To Love A Muggle
by Origami Ink
Summary: Charlie Weasley falls for a Muggle girl. Fluff and poppycock and crap... but it's fun!
1. Charlie Weasley

Okay. I'm totally in love with red-headed men, and therefore, all of the Weasley boys. ( So, yeah, my favorite would be Charlie, so here it is: the romance of Charlie Weasley. or something like that. Let's just call it an exorcism of inner demons on paper, shall we (which might fit all of my stories, but ish.)? Reviews are VERY welcome, even the flames!!  
  
Disclaimer: Yeah, I didn't come up with any of these characters. that honor belongs to J.K.R. yadda yadda yadda. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *  
  
Charlie Weasley sighed as he threw off his robe onto the couch. His day had been long and exhausting. He usually was out in the fields, working hands-on with the dragons, but today he had been filling out paperwork. One of the newer handlers hadn't completely read the manual and now was in the hospital trying to re-grow a new arm, the process that was unfortunately still in the experimental stages. Injury forms were always a hassle. Hopefully tomorrow he wouldn't find any more paperwork on his desk, and he'd be able to finally work with that new Chinese Fireball that came to the reservation only a couple days earlier.  
  
He kicked off his shoes and flung himself into the tattered armchair next to the couch. All he wanted to do was crash, just fall asleep and not wake up for a week. He had just about fallen into a deep slumber when he heard a crash at the window. He groaned and got to his feet to pick up the ancient bird, Errol. His mother still insisted on using this owl even though he should have been retired years ago. He put the bird in a small cage with food and water and opened the letter.  
  
Dear Charlie, I do hope this letter finds you well. I do not know what you are doing for the Easter holidays this year, but we would love it if you could find the time to visit us. Ron, Harry, and Hermione will be joining us as well. I have tried contacting Bill, but goodness knows what the goblins do with his letters. I would love it if we could have a large Weasley family reunion again. Please reply quickly. Love, Mum.  
  
Charlie sighed. His mother was always trying to get him and Bill to visit them or vice versa. His parents had spent the last few Christmases with him. He understood that his mother missed having all over her children at home, but she still had the twins, Ron, and Ginny. Percy was there when he wasn't at work, even. Despite his irritation, Charlie did want to see his brothers and sister again and quickly wrote back a reply:  
  
Hi Mum, I'll try to get the holidays off. We've been getting more dragons than usual lately, though, so it'll have to be touch and go. I'll keep you informed. Oh yeah - give Errol a break. He's gonna give out on the way here one of these days! Love, Charlie.  
  
"Stay here for the night. Gather up your strength before the woman sends you out again," Charlie told him as he tied the letter to Errol's leg. Errol hooted his thanks and closed his eyes. Charlie decided that before there were any further distractions, he'd go off to bed himself. He stripped down to his boxer shorts and climbed onto the mattress on the floor. He lived in a typical bachelor's pad - clothes thrown here and there, second hand furniture in the living room, and sparse decorations in his bedroom. His mother always bustled over it like a hen whenever she saw it, and always gave him a lecture about how he ought to move into a proper home, like Bill.  
  
Charlie pushed all of the negative thoughts floating through his head and focused on what tomorrow might bring. Ever the optimist, he curled up in his blankets and turned his dreams toward good thoughts. Tomorrow was another day, and then it'd be the weekend. And he'd be able to see the new dragons that were arriving tomorrow and be able to study that Chinese Fireball up close. There was even a rumor floating around that a Peruvian Vipertooth dragon was being brought to the reserve, one of the last left of the species.  
  
Charlie awoke the next morning to his wand buzzing loudly. It wasn't until he realized that he had charmed his wand to wake him up early that he understood what was going on. He grabbed his wand and muttered a counter- charm. It immediately stopped buzzing. Charlie groaned, stretched, and headed to the kitchen. He fixed himself a cup of coffee and sat down to read the Daily Prophet. He gave the owl in his window a Sickle, and it flew off to deliver its other papers, Errol taking flight with it.  
  
After several minutes perusing the paper, Charlie couldn't find anything of real interest and took his final mouthful of coffee. He put the cup into the sink, pointed his wand at it, and muttered a quick charm. The sponge immediately started to wash the cup until it was sparkling clean. Charlie grabbed his robes and a towel and jumped into the shower. As the water poured down his body, he began to think of the tasks he had to do today. No matter what, he decided, he wasn't going to leave work until he was at least able to run a physical on that Chinese. It needed to be done, and there were few in the department that was able to do it without major injuries. And burns weren't really injuries - just came with the line of work, although his mother might argue that point.  
  
Red hair dripping wet, Charlie toweled off and pulled on his old robes. He wrung his thick hair out as best he could and decided to let it air dry today. He checked the time; he still had a good half hour before he had to show up at work. He decided to apparate to the office a little early to try and get out to the field before anyone caught him and tried to shove papers in his hand. He pulled his dragon hide boots on. He hated these shoes - he hated anything that people killed dragons for. But, they were the most practical, as they were the only thing that the dragons he worked with would have a hard time biting, clawing, or burning through. Sighing, he picked up his wand and within a couple of seconds he found himself behind his desk.  
  
Charlie hurried through the halls and made his way to the fields, stopping only to grab the med kit used for physicals. He looked up to see a few of the native Romanian Longhorns in the air. He smiled to himself as he watched them fly around. Huge, beautiful, graceful creatures they were. He kept walking and soon found himself face-to-face with the Chinese Fireball. Its scales were a bright red, as if it had spent too many hours in the sun. He had always had a way with dangerous animals, and the dragon only glanced at him sleepily as he approached it.  
  
Charlie grabbed the large stethoscope first and cautiously advanced toward the dragon. It seemed to be more or less sleeping, but Charlie kept his wand out on the ready just to be sure. He listened for about a minute, hearing its lungs and heart. Both seemed healthy, and he proceeded to continue with the exam. Finally, the internal exam was done, at least as much as he could do out in the field. He began to look over the outside, checking scales for irritations or rashes. He then noticed that the end half of the dragon's tail was off color, a sort of orange. "Crap," Charlie muttered to himself. The informal name for it - Discoloration Rash - wasn't difficult to fix, but it meant going out into the Muggle world to find the best cure.  
  
Over the years, dragon handlers had learned that there was a Muggle cream known as Eucerin that was best for the Discoloration Rash. Muggles used it on their own skin, which was only slightly odd, but whatever worked, Charlie had always said. Unfortunately, the cream hadn't become so well known that it was readily available in a place like Diagon Alley. Of course, this might be because dragons were outlawed in most of Europe and the Americas.  
  
Charlie heaved a sigh and headed back to the office to fill out the physical exam chart for the dragon and change into Muggle clothing. He hastily filled out the form, adding in the bit about the rash so that anyone in the office would know where he had gone. He changed quickly into jeans and a polo shirt, not bothering to put on the sneakers. His dragon hide boots looked enough like alligator skin that he most likely wouldn't be questioned. He apparated to Diagon Alley, made a quick stop at Gringott's to change his money, and headed towards the exit out of the Leaky Cauldron. It looked like he was just leaving a normal building to any Muggle who happened to be watching.  
  
Charlie made his way to the nearest drug store, and located the Eucerin. He loaded twenty-some bottles into his cart, the entire inventory. It took a lot to heal a dragon's tail, as they were a large part of the creature. He took his purchases to the register. The cashier looked at him slightly oddly, but rang it up anyways. Charlie gave a nervous smile. Having grown up as a wizard, venturing into the Muggle world was always uncomfortable for him. The cashier handed him several large bags with his lotion. Charlie still had problems counting British pounds, and just handed the cashier all of it, who counted the correct amount and handed Charlie his change. Charlie turned to leave when he ran straight into the person behind him. Both went sprawling across the floor.  
  
"Oh, my goodness! I'm so sorry!" Charlie exclaimed.  
  
"Oh, it's all right," she replied. She looked up and gave him a smile. Charlie found himself grinning goofily back. She was the most gorgeous girl he had ever seen. She had large liquid gray eyes and black hair that cascaded lightly over her shoulders. Her skin was like perfectly carved ivory. With a petite figure, she looked delicate, but strong at the same time.  
  
"Here, let me help you up," he said, offering his hand, shaking himself out of his daze.  
  
"I've got it, thanks," she said, standing up and placing her items on the counter. The cashier rung her up and she took her bags, thanking him. Charlie continued to stand there throughout the entire process. She turned back around and saw him staring at her.  
  
"What?" she asked. "Do I have something on my face?"  
  
"N-no," he stammered. "Um. can I walk you out?"  
  
"Sure," she agreed, looking at him strangely. They walked out of the drug store together in silence, Charlie debating inside of his head about what to say. "So," she finally said, breaking the quiet, "do you have really dry hands or something?"  
  
"What?" he asked.  
  
"The lotion. You bought the whole stock. I watched you pile it into your cart. I was trying to figure out why anyone would need so much."  
  
"Oh, it's for this dr-. uh. I mean. you were watching me?" he said, catching himself at the last minute. He couldn't mention dragons here, he reprimanded to himself.  
  
"What's it for again? I didn't catch that."  
  
"Oh, uh, nothing. It's for work, though, not for me." He grinned at her.  
  
"What do you do?"  
  
"I, uh, I work with animals."  
  
"Oh." They walked a few more steps. "So what's your name?"  
  
"I'm sorry; I completely forgot to introduce myself. I'm Charlie Weasley. And you?"  
  
"Ariane Hara."  
  
"Pleased to meet you. I'd shake your hand, but." he lifted up his bags. She chuckled and nodded her understanding. They came to the end of the street.  
  
"Well, I have to turn right. I don't know where you're going."  
  
"I have to turn left."  
  
"I guess this is goodbye then. Maybe we'll run into each other again. not literally next time, though." She gave a small wave and started walking the opposite direction.  
  
"Wait!" Charlie called after her. "Um. would you like to have dinner with me sometime?" She looked at him and a small smile appeared on her face.  
  
"I'd love to. I was wondering when you were going to ask. Here, let me give you my number so that you can ring me." She took out a pen from her purse and started writing her number on his hand. She finished and looked up at him with a grin on her face. "Talk to you later then!"  
  
"Talk to you later," he repeated. Crap, he thought to himself, I don't even know how to use a telephone! He hurried off to the Leaky Cauldron to apparate back to Romania.  
  
Charlie paced behind his desk, wondering what to do about this new dilemma. He had been able to avoid it for a few hours, but now that all of the never ending paperwork seemed to finally be finished, he had to address to real issue at hand. Finally he decided to take quill to parchment. "Dear Ron," he said out loud, and continued to write a letter to his youngest brother, who had two dear friends that grew up in the wizarding world..  
*Sorry, it's kind of slow right now - I had to establish his daily life and all that stuff. I'll try to make it more fast paced and interesting from here on out! Thanks for reading, and please review!!! 


	2. Meanwhile, Back at Hogwarts

Yup, here's chapter two, which will mostly take place in Hogwarts, so as not to deprive anyone from Harry, Ron, and Hermione (and of course, the twins!) So, here goes!  
  
Disclaimer: Only the plot is mine... * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *  
  
"Hermione!" Harry waved his and Ron's friend over to the spots they had saved in the Great Hall for breakfast that morning. "What do we have first today?"  
  
"Double Herbology," replied Hermione instantly. "I think we're doing something with Tentaculas today."  
  
"You mean that venomous thing that always tries to eat me?" asked Ron through a mouthful of waffle.  
  
"I don't think we're working with the full grown ones yet. Probably just the seedlings and those don't have enough poison to kill you - just take a chunk out of you if they bite you hard enough." Ron and Harry looked at each other. As usual, Hermione was several lessons ahead of everyone else - by a few years, most likely. All three turned their full attention to their meals, when they heard a fluttering of wings above.  
  
"Ah, mail's here," said Ron. He noticed that Charlie's horned owl, Thor, was among the crowd. "Look, I've got a letter from Charlie." He looked at his two comrades. "That's strange; the last time he wrote me was back in first year, remember, when we had to get rid of Norbert?" The other two nodded. "I wonder what he wants," Ron wondered out loud.  
  
"Open it; let's see," said Harry. Ron rolled out the parchment and read it out loud so that all three could hear.  
  
"'Dear Ron, I hope you're well. How are your classes going? Still taking Care of Magical Creatures? Anyways, I have sort of a technical question for Harry and Hermione -' figures," muttered Ron. "The only time I get a letter from my older brother is to ask you two a question."  
  
"Keep going," urged Hermione. "Find out what he wants to know."  
  
"'I was wondering if either one of them could write me back and give me detailed instructions on how to use a telephone. Send your reply only if you have the instructions, and please hurry! Love, Charlie,'" Ron finished.  
  
"Why does he want to know how to use a telephone?" wondered Harry.  
  
"I dunno. Seems kind of weird, doesn't it? Why doesn't he just talk through the fires; he's a fully licensed wizard. Maybe he's developing a weird interest in Muggles, like Dad. bloody hell, I hope not. One of them in the family's enough," mused Ron. All of the sudden, the letter was snatched out of Ron's hands.  
  
"What's this?" asked Fred. George looked over his twin's shoulder.  
  
"Our dear older brother wrote you but not us? I think I'm hurt!" claimed George.  
  
"What does he need to know how to use a phone for?" asked Fred.  
  
"We were just trying to figure that out when you took my letter from me!" said Ron, reaching up to reclaim it.  
  
"Keep your shirt on. we're not done with it yet," claimed Fred.  
  
"What more do you need to read?" asked Ron bitterly. "You've read the whole bloody thing."  
  
"Watch your language, Ronnie," cried George. "What would Mum think of your tongue?"  
  
"Bugger off," he muttered. He motioned to Harry and Hermione and grabbed their bags. "On three, k, Harry?" he muttered on the side of his mouth, as they walked away. Harry nodded. The twins shrugged and began poring over the letter. "One..two..three," Ron said under his breath. Harry suddenly turned around and shouted, "Accio letter!" The letter went flying out of Fred's hands, and the twins let out cries of frustration and anger. Since the Triwizard Tournament, Harry had become the local expert on summoning charms, and the three friends often used it to their advantage.  
  
Grinning happily, Ron, Harry, and Hermione left the Great Hall, Charlie's letter in hand. They headed toward the greenhouses for Herbology, talking quietly about the different reasons Charlie might ask such an obscure question. Indeed, in Herbology, they found themselves dealing with young Tentaculas, as Hermione had predicted. Ron had been sent to hospital wing after class, as it seemed that the seedlings found him as appetizing as the full grown Tentacula had.  
  
"Bloody plant," muttered Ron, his hand lightly bandaged up.  
  
"Yeah, after taking that chunk of your hand out, it was pretty bloody," quipped Harry, grinning until Ron sent him a murderous glance.  
  
"We don't have class until after lunch so why don't we go to the common room and write Charlie back?" suggested Hermione.  
  
"Sure," replied Harry. Ron didn't respond, cradling his injured hand instead. The three headed up to the Gryffindor common room, quickly grabbing the last table as soon as the Fat Lady's portrait opened up. Hermione pulled a spare piece of parchment and quill out of her bag. With her quill poised over the paper, she looked expectantly at the other two.  
  
"Well?" she asked. "What should we write?" Ron shrugged.  
  
"I don't even know how to use a phone; this is yours and Harry's thing." Hermione turned to Harry.  
  
"I dunno, Hermione. The Dursleys never let me use a phone. I mean, I know how, but it's not like I can describe it. This is totally your field," he responded to her. She let out a sigh of frustration.  
  
"Honestly! Both of you!" Both boys looked at her, slightly alarmed. "Ron, Charlie is your brother, so you could at least add something in there. And Harry, just say something encouraging like, 'you'll get the hang of it' or whatever! Charlie asked for our help, and we're going to give it to him!"  
  
"Hermione. honestly, it's probably not that urgent. Charlie is most likely just turning into Dad or something," said Ron. "Why is this letter such a big deal to you, anyways?"  
  
"Yeah, are you sweet on him or something?" chimed Harry. Hermione rolled her eyes.  
  
"If I deny it, you'll accuse me of lying, and if I said 'yes' you'd only make fun of me. But while we're on the subject, no, I don't," replied Hermione icily. "I just think it'd be nice to help out Charlie, especially since he's helped us out plenty of times. Remember Norbert? We owe it to him." She looked each boy in the eye. They both finally grumbled their consent and saw her point. They huddled together and Hermione began to write in her tiny, neat script.  
  
"'Dear Charlie,'" she said out loud as she wrote, "'Harry and I would be delighted to let you in on the secrets of using a phone. First, you have to pick it up. The end with the cord goes near your mouth, and the other end goes to your ear. Locate the numbers, and then punch them in the order that the number you're calling is. You'll hear rings, and then someone will pick up on the other end. Then just talk like normal. If nobody picks up, you'll probably get an answering machine, so just talk to it, and it'll record your voice and the person will most likely call you back. Good luck! Hermione.'" She handed the parchment to Ron.  
  
"'Charlie, why in the world do you need to know how to use a bloody phone? Well, I don't know how to either, so Hermione's instructions will probably work. And yes, Harry, Hermione and I are still in Care of Magical Creatures. Write back soon. Love, Ron.'" Ron handed it to Harry. Harry bit his lip and placed quill to parchment, quickly writing down the first thing that came to mind.  
  
"'Er. good luck, mate. Phones are tricky business. Harry.'" Hermione looked at him.  
  
"That's it?"  
  
"Yeah, I think you covered it pretty well, Hermione." She sighed and rolled up the parchment, simultaneously rolling her eyes.  
  
"Well, we'd better send this off. Can we use Pig, Ron?" Ron nodded.  
  
"Silly git was getting in my way anyhow. Probably do him good, flying to Romania." The three headed up towards the Owlery. Once there, it wasn't difficult to locate Pigwidgeon. He was hooting wildly and flying around in circles. The other owls regarded him with trying patience. Ron leapt up and grabbed the tiny owl out of the air, its head poking out of his fist.  
  
"Hold still!" he cried to the minute owl. Ron eventually got the letter tied to Pig's foot and let him go. The letter was almost larger than the owl itself. "Take it to Charlie, in Romania!" he yelled after it as Pig flew away. "And take your time with it," Ron muttered, as an afterthought. The three headed back down to the Great Hall to stuff themselves with lunch before going off to their next classes.  
  
*Well. that's the Hogwarts fix for the day. Please review just so that I know people are reading. well, even if you're not reading, I'll keep writing, but that's not the point!!! Hit that "Submit review" button on the left hand corner of your screen!! You can do it!! Go on! ( 


	3. So what do you do?

Okay, here's Chapter 3. if you're still here, thanks for continuing to read ( Well, I don't have anything more important to say, so on with the story! Lights! Curtain! Cue one. go! (Sorry. can't get a good stage manager down!!)  
  
Disclaimer: I own nothing. (Seriously, starving student here!!) Only the plot belongs to me. I wonder if that'd buy dinner. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *  
  
Charlie Weasley woke up on a Saturday morning to a loud twittering sound next to his ear. He started to swat at it, thinking it was a fly when his hand hit a fluffy Snitch. His Seeker days coming back to him, he clutched the Snitch and wouldn't let it go, despite its desperate wriggling. Alertness suddenly hitting him, Charlie realized that Snitches weren't fluffy. nor did they hoot. Charlie suddenly let Pigwidgeon go, and realized that Ron had replied to him. He snatched the parchment from the tiny owl and opened it hastily. Pigwidgeon flew out of the window from which he came, and headed back towards Britain.  
  
Charlie read the letter quickly, and put it on his dresser so as not to lose the vital instructions that Hermione had given him. He quickly showered, got dressed in Muggle clothing, and headed out of his door, letter in hand. He apparated back to Diagon Alley, and went straight for downtown London via The Leaky Cauldron. Charlie quickly located the nearest telephone booth and picked up the phone, just the way Hermione had instructed. He dialed in the number, which was still written on his hand, and waited anxiously for Ariane to pick up. After five rings, he was ready to hang up and maybe try again later. Suddenly, he heard a voice on the other end.  
  
"Hello?"  
  
"Uh. hi. umm. is Ariane there?" he stuttered.  
  
"Speaking; who is this?"  
  
"Oh. Hi, um, this is Charlie. Weasley. umm. from the drug store yesterday."  
  
"Oh yeah. Hi. How are you?"  
  
"I'm fine. umm. listen, are you free tonight?"  
  
"Yeah, sure. I hadn't really expected you to call, you know." Charlie heard her laugh a little.  
  
"Why not? I'd be an idiot for not calling." Charlie couldn't believe those words came out of his mouth.  
  
"Well." she sounded surprised at his boldness for expressing his feelings. "You just seemed perplexed when I gave you my number, that's all."  
  
"Oh. So. um, what time should I pick you up?"  
  
"Shall we meet at 7 o'clock? Where are we going?" Crap, Charlie thought to himself, I don't know any good Muggle restaurants!  
  
"Umm. how about I just pick you up. I want it to be a surprise," he said quickly.  
  
"Oh. all right. Let me give you my address, then." She rattled off an address in a small suburb of London, Charlie writing down the information furiously on his hand, underneath the smudged remains of her phone number.  
  
"Thanks. okay. I'll see you at seven, then," he said.  
  
"Yeah. see you then. Bye."  
  
"Bye," he repeated. He heard her hang up, and he let out a sigh of relief. He had made the first phone call of his life and he hadn't screwed it up. But now he had to figure out how to get to Kilburn. maybe he could get a cab here and just take it to her place. That would mean taking out more money and changing it. Seeming like the best decision, he headed back to the Leaky Cauldron to go to Gringott's.  
  
Six hours later, Charlie found himself in Muggle slacks, a button down shirt, and a pocket full of British pounds. After he had changed his money at Gringott's, he headed out to the nearest clothing store and nervously explained to the saleswoman that he needed clothes for a date. Then he asked her where he should take Ariane. Before he knew it, the saleswoman had not only set him up with an outfit, but with a reservation at a 'superb restaurant.' Prior to getting into the cab, he had bought some flowers, hoping that if he looked completely ridiculous, Ariane would at least appreciate the flowers. All too soon, the cab stopped in front of the requested address, and asked the driver to wait for a few minutes. He forced himself to get out of the car and walk to the door.  
  
He knocked, and the door immediately opened. His mouth fell open in shock. Ariane was wearing a red dress that swished around her knees, and tied up around her neck. She had strappy red heels on, and she looked amazing. Charlie couldn't believe his luck. He handed her the flowers. "These are for you." She smiled and took them  
  
"Thank you. I have the perfect vase for them. I'll be right back." She disappeared around the corner and shuffled around. She returned after a few minutes. "Ready to go?" she asked with a smile. Charlie offered her his arm and they walked back to the cab. Charlie gave the driver the restaurant's name, and turned back to look at Ariane. They sat in awkward silence until she broke the silence.  
  
"So, Charlie. What do you do? You mentioned working with animals, right?"  
  
"Umm. yes. I work with exotic animals."  
  
"So are you like a zoo veterinarian or something?"  
  
"No, I work out in the field, on a protective reservation."  
  
"Interesting. What kinds of animals?"  
  
"Um. all kinds." Charlie wasn't prepared for this line of questioning. He quickly turned the conversation over to her. "What do you do?"  
  
"I'm a psychologist, actually. I'm working on my doctorate, though, so I can get into clinical psychology." Charlie nodded as if he understood. He had hoped to get her talking, but she wasn't one to get distracted. "So what kind of reservation? Are there many in Britain?" He decided to tell the truth this time.  
  
"Uh, no, actually, I work in Romania." Ariane seemed taken aback.  
  
"Romania? So what are you doing here? Do they not sell Eucerin in Romania?" she teased.  
  
"No. my family lives here. I like to visit them a lot, and my brothers and sister all go to school here. Traveling is very easy." The cab pulled in front of the restaurant. Charlie carefully counted out the fare and a tip, and the two got out. Charlie approached the maitre d'. "Reservation for Weasley," he said importantly. The maitre d' checked his list and smiled at the couple.  
  
"Right this way, sir." He led them to a table near the window. Charlie pulled out the chair for Ariane and then sat down in his own seat.  
  
"So what were you saying again? How are you able to travel between Romania and England so often?"  
  
"Umm. well, I get very good deals. And it only takes a little bit out of my day," he replied.  
  
"Wow. I don't think I'd be able to handle that much traveling. How many siblings do you have? You mentioned them earlier."  
  
"Yes, I have an older brother, Bill, who works for a bank; and then my younger brother Percy works for the Ministry of Ma. uh, he works for the government. My other brothers, George and Fred, they're twins, and Ron, all go to school with my little sister Ginny."  
  
"Wow. big family. Do they all have hair like yours, too?"  
  
"Yes. it's the Weasley family trait. And yourself?"  
  
"I'm an only child. I was raised by my mother; my father died when I was very young."  
  
"I'm sorry."  
  
"It's okay. My mum and I have done fairly well on our own."  
  
"I'd love to meet her."  
  
"Maybe you can someday. I'd love to meet your family. I've always wanted a large family."  
  
"We're having a get-together for Easter.. I know it's still a couple months away, but maybe if it all works out, you could come." What are you saying, Weasley?? Charlie thought to himself. I can't get the whole family to pretend to be Muggles!  
  
"Yeah, that'd be great. Well, it's decided. This'll just have to work out then, won't it?" she replied, a twinkle in her eye.  
  
The waiter came by to take their orders, and Charlie and Ariane continued to talk through the entire dinner. They had so much in common, but Charlie had to keep catching himself before he gave away the fact that he was a wizard. It was especially difficult when she asked him what his favorite sport was. Luckily, he had heard of soccer, and said that before "Quidditch" flew out of his mouth. He was unable to come up with a favorite team, though, and lamely stated that he liked all of the teams. The night flew by, and soon Charlie and Ariane found themselves outside of her house again.  
  
"I had a great time," said Ariane. And she really had - it wasn't a line that she was handing most of the guys that she had dated.  
  
"I did too. I'd love to see you again. Are you free for lunch any time this week?"  
  
"Aren't you going to be in Romania?"  
  
"I can make it."  
  
"I'm free Tuesday. How about I meet you at that drug store? Just for old time's sake? There's a small diner around the corner that I go to a lot."  
  
"Sounds great. Noon, then?"  
  
"I can't wait." Hesitating at first, but then making up his mind, Charlie leaned in to kiss her. Unfortunately, she turned her head at the wrong time, and he ended up with his lips on the temple of her forehead. Horrified, he pulled back and looked at her.  
  
"What happened? Did you miss?" she teased.  
  
"No! You moved!" he retorted.  
  
"I did not!"  
  
"Shall we try again?" She nodded, and he leaned down again, softly putting his lips to hers. It was like magic - so tender and yet so powerful at the same time. Charlie could swear there were sparks there. Reluctantly, he pulled back. "Good night."  
  
"Good night," she said with a shy smile on her lips. She opened the door to her house and gave Charlie a small wave before closing the door. He walked down the pathway and congratulated himself on not acting like a prat with such a beautiful woman. He even had another date lined up now! But it wasn't going to be easy keeping this Muggle image up. Maybe I should just tell her, he thought. But what if it turns her away from me? Then I'd have given away this secret. He walked to the corner, made sure nobody was around and apparated back home. He'd have to think about this more before Tuesday.  
  
*Okay. yeah. still kind of boring, but it's helping me get through my day. Please review just because I love knowing people are reading my work!! 


	4. Keeping Up the Charade

A/N: Umm. here's chapter 4. Enjoy.  
  
Disclaimer: Yeah, yeah, yeah. one of these days I'll be the proud owner of my own characters. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *  
  
Charlie found himself back in his miniscule living room, having just apparated from Kilburn. He tore off his sweater and threw it onto the chair, simultaneously throwing himself onto the sofa. He allowed himself a few minutes of basking in the warm glow of post-date happiness. After grinning like an idiot for several minutes for no apparent reason, he began to concentrate and "get down to business."  
  
He had to figure out how to keep up this Muggle charade. It wasn't going to be easy; he had little to no contact with Muggles seeing as he grew up as a wizard. With the exception of his father's strange obsession, he had no clue as to how Muggles survived. First, he reasoned, he'd have to buy more Muggle clothes. It didn't have to be right away, of course, because he already owned a couple of pairs of blue jeans and t-shirts. He had at least enough to get through Tuesday's lunch date. Next, he had to figure out how they lived: how they traveled, cooked, communicated, what they did in their spare time, sports. The list went on. He made a mental note to himself to look up psychology.  
  
The only way to really find out was to write to Hermione again. Apparently neither Ron nor Harry was good with words or instructions, so Charlie decided to communicate directly with their more studious friend.  
  
Dear Hermione, I know it seems strange to hear from me, as I don't know you very well. But I was hoping we could talk some more about Muggles. I know that you are Muggle born, and I am therefore assuming that you know all about them. I'd rather not go into my reasons for wanting this knowledge, but if you could help me out, I'd truly appreciate it. Thanks, Charlie. P.S. What's a good British soccer team?  
  
Thor had apparently only returned from Hogwarts a couple of hours earlier, from the deep sleep that Charlie found him in. He decided that the letter didn't need to be sent until morning, and Charlie would let him sleep before the long flight back to Britain. Realizing that sleep would probably be the best idea, Charlie stripped down to his boxer shorts and fell onto his bed. His dreams floated off into fantasies of no longer being a bachelor, and having a wife who could love him, and he could love in return.  
  
Charlie, as most young men did, enjoyed his bachelor status, but was beginning to get weary of always being alone. After moving to Romania, his choices in women were often limited, especially since the women he worked with were usually scarred from burns or cuts. They were nice enough, sure, but one dragon scarred person in the family was enough; almost all of his coworkers felt the same way. He didn't want a woman who would just sit around the house all day and pick up after himself and his children, but a woman who had her own career, and could pull her own. He wanted a woman who he could come home to, and they could share their stories about their days together. Most of all, he wanted that woman to be Ariane.  
  
Charlie chastised himself for already thinking about her as a wife. I've only known her for a total of two days, he thought. She doesn't even know I'm a wizard! Whenever that thought entered his head, he always found himself back in a slight stupor. Figures that of all women to fall for, I had to fall for a Muggle, he said to himself. But as a Muggle was how he liked her. If she was a witch, she'd probably be completely different. Charlie was a firm believer in past experiences shaping the present person.  
  
Charlie fell asleep with his mind buzzing with thoughts of Ariane, Muggles, and memories of the past four hours. By the time he awoke on Sunday, he felt refreshed, as though his dreams had relived his previous night again and again and again. It was still the weekend, and Charlie decided to venture once again out into the world of Muggles. He couldn't continue using pay phones, and eventually she'd probably ask for his number. But the question remained whether or not his house even had a phone jack (not that he knew what those were at the time). Before leaving his house, he sent Thor off with his letter to Hermione, praying the girl would be as prompt with this answer as she was with her prior one.  
  
* * *  
  
"Hey, Ron, look. Isn't that Charlie's owl again?" asked Harry, as Thor dropped a letter in front of Hermione.  
  
"Wonder what he wants now? And why did he write you, Hermione?" asked Ron. Hermione had already opened the letter and read it through quickly.  
  
"He wants to know more about Muggles," she said. "He's asked me to provide him with more information on them, but he won't say why." Harry and Ron shared a puzzled look.  
  
"It's official. He's turning into Dad," proclaimed Ron. At that moment, with impeccable timing, the twins sat down next to the trio.  
  
"Who's turning into Dad? Don't tell me Charlie wrote you again," injected Fred. Hermione waved the letter at him to show him that his guess was indeed fact. George groaned.  
  
"Jeez; isn't one of them enough? What does he want to know this time?" he asked. Hermione shrugged.  
  
"He wasn't really specific about anything. He just said he wanted to know more about Muggles and he'd rather not go into the reasons why."  
  
"So what are you going to tell him?" asked Harry.  
  
"I dunno. Maybe stuff about electricity, or how they travel. That kind of thing. The stuff that's common knowledge to them, but wizards wouldn't know a thing about. I wonder if he'd want to know about the money exchange and political standpoints," she mused. The other four had no doubt that she could write books on any of the topics she had mentioned, despite going to a wizarding school for the past five years. "It's something I'll have to think about," she finished.  
  
That night in her dorm, Hermione began her reply to Charlie. She began by explaining the theory of electricity, how it worked, and why Muggles used it. She decided against adding the history of its evolution as starting out as candles and moving to candelabras, etc. She gave him the basic outline of their clothing, and what was common for them to wear this day in age, the finer points of finance, the Prime Minister's name, and the most common ways of traveling (car, train, bus, and airplane). She had to make a quick trip over to Harry and Ron's room to get Dean and ask about the soccer question.  
  
Five feet of parchment later, she went up to the owlery and decided to use Hedwig. Harry had already given her permission to use his snowy owl, as he had few letters to send himself; unless it was to Sirius, and even then, they had to use the more common school barn owls. Hedwig hooted gratefully as Hermione tied the large letter to the owl's foot. She took flight and Hermione watched her as she floated off into the distance.  
Charlie heard a rapping at his window on Monday night, right before he was about to go to sleep. He was apprehensive about his second date with Ariane, as he hadn't yet received a reply from Hermione yet. The day before, he had gone out and bought three more pairs of slacks and a couple of polo shirts. His t-shirt collection seemed to be growing by the minute. More than anything, Charlie wanted to call up an electrician and get his brand new phone installed, but he had to figure out how to hide all of his magical belongings first.  
  
Charlie opened the window and let Hedwig fly in. He took the letter from her leg and opened it. It was much longer than he expected. He began reading it feverishly, quickly figuring out to skip most of the paragraphs as they only contained the theories as to how each of the Muggle inventions worked. He didn't care how they worked; only what they did. After reading Hermione's letter through twice, Charlie felt much more prepared for his date the next day. He went to bed confident, and ready to face anything.  
Charlie spent his morning behind a desk again, working out the finer details of the Chinese Fireball's progress. The Eucerin had been doing its job, all right, but the dragon seemed to want to eat anyone that smelled like the lotion, and they were running out of people that could approach it. It was quite the anomaly, and it intrigued Charlie. The morning flew by, amazingly enough, and soon it was a quarter to noon. Charlie pulled out a bag containing some of his brand new clothes and changed quickly. He then apparated to Diagon Alley, and took the same route through the Leaky Cauldron. He was stopped this time, however, by the innkeeper, Tom.  
  
"Hey, Charlie! Charlie Weasley!"  
  
"Hey, Tom," said Charlie, trying to make it clear in his body language that he was in a hurry.  
  
"I keep seeing you around here, but you keep taking off into the Muggle world! I'm curious; and why are you wearing those clothes?"  
  
"Uh, I'm in a bit of a rush, Tom, so I'll tell you later, all right?"  
  
"Yeah, sure thing, Charlie. Just let me in on one thing - you're not taking after your old man and getting obsessed with all those Muggle inventions, are you?"  
  
"I don't think so, Tom!" With that, Charlie pushed the door open to the outside and rushed to meet Ariane. He only had a couple of minutes, and he didn't want to be late.  
  
He turned the corner quickly and located the drug store. He took off on a jog and in his haste, almost ran into the woman again. Panting, he smiled at her, and said the first thing that popped into his head.  
  
"You are so beautiful." Ariane beamed at the compliment.  
  
"Thank you." She looped her arm through his and they headed off towards the diner. "So did you run from Romania? You're awfully out of breath."  
  
"Something like that. So how are you?"  
  
"I'm fine. And yourself?"  
  
"Perfect," he answered with a smile. They reached the diner, and continued to talk through lunch, their conversation as exuberant as the one three nights ago. By the end of lunch, Charlie found himself with another date that weekend. Ariane wanted to show him her favorite bit of Hyde Park.  
  
By the time Charlie got back to the office, he was grinning like a fool and could hardly concentrate on his work. Not having yet applied the Eucerin to the Chinese Fireball, he decided to go out and work with it. Once out in the field and in his robes again, Charlie found himself talking to the dragon. It was amazing how docile the creature was around him and yet not nearly as peaceful around the other workers.  
  
"So this woman is probably the most beautiful, smart, and amazing woman in the world. Do you think it's wrong for me to love a Muggle? I find it almost intriguing, but I feel like I'm leading her on. Everything I tell her is a lie of some sort because she doesn't know about us, I mean wizards, of course." He went on and on and the dragon simply let him apply the lotion and talk as his heart was content. Thankfully, none of his coworkers could approach the dragon, as they had already been the lotioners once and now risked losing limbs. It wasn't common practice to talk to dragons about one's love life. The task done, Charlie headed back to his office, and then home, ready to prepare for Saturday, despite the date being four days away.  
Saturday came and went, and three weeks quickly flew by. Charlie was now making almost daily trips to Britain, usually during lunch or after work, but one thing was bothering him. He hadn't officially asked Ariane to be his girlfriend, and it had been brought up only yesterday. She had asked him about his prior girlfriends and how he had been with them.  
  
"So do you get down on one knee and ask them to go with you or do you just assume they worship the ground you stand on?" she had asked. Never really having had much experience with girls other than the few flings at Hogwarts, Charlie didn't have an answer. But now he decided that Ariane deserved to know that SHE was the one he worshipped, and it shouldn't be the other way around. He wanted to ask her to be his official girlfriend, and make it known to the world how he felt about her. He wanted it to be extraordinary. So that Saturday they were going for a walk around Hyde Park again; it had become sort of a tradition for their Saturday afternoons.  
  
Charlie was wearing blue jeans and a t-shirt with a light jacket. Inside of his jacket was his concealed wand, and he carried eleven real roses and one fake rose. He waited impatiently until she showed up, and she smiled delightedly when she saw the bundle of flowers. He leaned down to kiss her and then told her to wait for a second. He led her over to the bottom of a hill, and took a deep breath.  
  
"Ariane," he started. She looked at him with interest. "I've come to really care about you. A lot. And I'd like you to be my girlfriend - officially. I want to make it known to the world how I feel about you. I'm giving you these roses, and I want you to know that I want you to be with me until that last rose fades." Ariane looked at him curiously and then noticed that one of the roses was fake, and would never wilt. She looked at him with huge eyes and flung her arms around his neck  
  
"Is that a yes?" he asked in between kisses.  
  
"Of course it's a yes!" she shouted. He hugged her even harder, and murmured a charm soft enough that she couldn't hear it. Suddenly, the trees from above them started shedding in a circle around the two, like a shower of blossoms and leaves. "Oh wow," she breathed. "It's like magic!" Charlie grinned at her, and flung her around once more, taking in her scent, the way she felt in his arms, and swore that he was the happiest man in the entire world.  
  
*Okay. so that's the installment of the day. I'm going to try and update daily (I work way too early in the morning, so I have lots of time to think about what's going to happen!) Please keep reviewing so I know whether or not the story's headed in the right direction! Once again, thank you sooooo much to the people who have already reviewed and read thus far! 


	5. This is Mum

So I just spent the last three hours at work staring at a pool (at freakin' 5 am in the morning, no less!) and thinking about the next few chapters. so it's all planned out, and I'll try to get these chapters written as quickly as possible! It got a little fluffy at the end of the last chapter, but I've always wanted to use that rose thing in one of my stories (It was begging to get out!!!) Anyhow, I'll try to remedy the fluffiness from here on out. Enough of my babbling. read on! (And don't forget to review!!)  
  
Disclaimer: Yeah, okay, if I owned these characters and the HP world, I'd be popping out the fifth, sixth, and seventh books instead of writing about Charlie's love life... * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *  
  
"Hey, Hermione," said Ron.  
  
"Yes?" she replied testily.  
  
"Have you heard from Charlie lately?" he asked, oblivious to her edginess.  
  
"No, I imagine he's too busy with - never mind."  
  
"With what?"  
  
"Never mind, Ron! I have to study, and so do you. We have midterms right before the Easter holidays!"  
  
"Relax, Hermione, that's still two weeks away."  
  
"Two weeks!" she shrieked. "More like a week and a half! We only have ten days, which is conclusive to only 70 hours for real studying time since we still have to go to class and meals!" Ron looked at her fearfully for several seconds and then his face broke into a grin again.  
  
"Come on, what's Charlie up to? I know he's been writing you about Muggles still. I deserve to know, I'm his brother! And besides, you've been studying for the past month."  
  
"If he wanted you to know, then he'd tell you on his own, wouldn't he? Why don't you let him have his privacy and let me study?" Hermione decided to ignore his last comment. Ron sent a look to Harry, who just shrugged. Neither knew what was going on with Charlie, nor why he was only writing to Hermione. Sure, both had their own secret theories, but both knew better than to mention them to Hermione, especially within a week of midterms.  
  
Ron supposed that he'd simply have to wait until Easter holidays and then get on Charlie himself. Mrs. Weasley had made sure that all of her children, plus Hermione and Harry, were coming back this Easter. Ron wasn't quite sure of the reasoning of this minor family reunion, but he suspected his mother was realizing that most of her children were out of school or about to graduate. Even so, it'd be two years before he was out, and another three before Ginny was. Either way, it'd be great to see Bill and Charlie again.  
"WOW! That was amazing!" exclaimed Charlie, having just walked out of his first cinematic experience. Ariane looked at him curiously.  
  
"You act as if you've never seen a film before," she said.  
  
"Well. I haven't seen any good ones in a while, that's all," he made up quickly. "We don't have many good cinemas in Romania." She nodded understandingly.  
  
"So do you want to go get some ice cream?" she suggested. "There's a place right around the corner."  
  
"Sure." They walked down the street, hand in hand, towards the ice cream parlor.  
  
"Charlie?" Ariane squirmed a little.  
  
"What's wrong?" he asked. "Is everything all right?"  
  
"I'm going to my mother's house tomorrow - I'd like you to come with me. You know, meet my mother."  
  
"I'd love to!" replied Charlie immediately.  
  
"Really?"  
  
"Of course. Any woman who brought you up must be amazing."  
  
"Honestly, Charles Weasley, you can say the corniest things sometimes," she laughed.  
  
"Not corny! Only truthful," he declared. "So what do you want?" he asked, as they finally reached the ice cream parlor, and were about to place their order.  
  
"A small vanilla, please," Ariane told the server.  
  
"And I'd like a large waffle cone with orange sherbet," said Charlie. He looked at Ariane and grinned. "You know, to match my hair."  
  
"That one's getting really old, Weasley," she teased him.  
  
"You know you love it," he shot back.  
  
"Your hair or the joke?"  
  
"Both." They sat down with their ice cream and continued to tease each other. They had become increasingly comfortable with one another in a very short period of time. Soon it became late, and ice cream was consumed. Charlie paid for the cab back to Ariane's house, and kissed her goodnight. She was about to close the door when a thought hit him.  
  
"Wait!" he called out. "Should I just meet you here tomorrow morning?"  
  
"Yeah, we can drive from here up to her place."  
  
"I'll see you tomorrow then."  
  
"Tomorrow."  
Nervous as could be, Charlie stood outside of Ariane's door the next morning. She opened it promptly and let him in. She was still bustling around, getting ready for the two hour drive up to her mother's house. Finally, after putting the pudding and casserole into the back of her tiny car, they were off. Charlie, having only sat a couple of times in his father's old Ford Anglia, was very intrigued by the car driving on the ground as opposed to flying in the air. He didn't let on to this, of course, but it kept him entertained nonetheless.  
  
"Do you reckon she'll like me?" asked Charlie, about an hour and a half into the trip.  
  
"Even if she doesn't, I still like you." This wasn't the answer Charlie was looking for, but he let it go.  
  
"Umm, well, I know this is kind of parallel to what we're doing this weekend, but Easter is next weekend.. Do you want to come? It's going to be like a small family reunion, and all of my brothers and sister are going to be there. My younger brother Ron is bringing his two best friends back from school, too. It'll be a big crowd, but you'd be able to meet everyone." Ariane looked delightedly at Charlie.  
  
"I was hoping that you'd remember that. You mentioned it on our first date, remember?"  
  
"Of course I remember. They're going to love you, darling."  
  
"I hope so." Both had butterflies in their stomachs at the prospect of meeting the other's family. Charlie was about to tell her his 'secret' when she pulled up into a driveway. He figured now would not be the best time to tell her, but he had to figure out how before Friday.  
  
His legs like jelly; he stepped out of the car, reached into the back and grabbed the casserole and pudding. He followed Ariane through the front door as she called for her mother.  
  
"Mum! We're here! Just leave the food on the table, through that door," Ariane said to him, nodding to a swinging door that presumably led to the kitchen. Charlie got a glimpse of an old Asian woman coming through to the living room, supported by a cane. She didn't look terribly old; more worn out than anything.  
  
When Charlie re-entered the living room from setting the food down, he saw that Ariane was seated on a blue couch, and her mother was on a rocking chair adjacent to the couch. Charlie followed suit and sat down next to Ariane. Ariane took his hand in hers, and beamed at her mother.  
  
"Mum. this is Charlie. He's the one I told you about." She watched her mother's expression carefully, which was difficult to read.  
  
"Hello, ma'am. it's good to finally meet you," said Charlie, extending a hand to the older woman. She took it lightly, as if Charlie had some sort of disease transferable by touch.  
  
"He's taller than you said," stated Ariane's mother, finally speaking for the first time. "And his hair is orange, not red." Charlie noticed a slight accent. Ariane looked down at the ground, embarrassed. Here she was, in her twenties, with a career, and her mother was treating the first serious boyfriend she'd had in years as though they were both still in secondary school. Charlie seemed unfazed, however.  
  
"Yes, ma'am," he confirmed. "I guess I might have sprouted a little in the last few weeks. That and the orange hair would describe the whole of the Weasley clan." Of course he hadn't grown at all, being past the age of unannounced growth spurts. Charlie felt, however, that it would be best just to agree with the woman. She didn't look like someone to be in an argument with.  
  
"Um, Mum, why don't we show Charlie around the house?" suggested Ariane, in an attempt to shake off the awkwardness of the conversation. She stood up, and led Charlie down the first hallway, her mother following slowly after. There were pictures lining the wall, mostly of Ariane as a baby, Ariane in her various years of schooling, her graduation, a picture of Ariane and her mother. Charlie noticed at the end of the hallway, there was a picture of Ariane as a very young child, perhaps three years old, with her mother and (Charlie assumed) her father. He walked over and studied the picture.  
  
"Ariane, is this your father?"  
  
"Yes. He died a month after that picture was taken," Ariane said sadly.  
  
"Killed," corrected her mother.  
  
"Excuse me?" said Charlie.  
  
"He was murdered. He didn't just die. The doctors lied to me. They lied!" said the old woman.  
  
"Dad died of a heart attack. Mum likes to think he was killed; it is dishonorable to die so young without just cause." Charlie was confused. "Japanese belief; Mum and Dad emigrated here from Japan thirty years ago," Ariane explained. Ariane's mother was shaking her head in protest to everything Ariane was saying. Charlie looked back at the picture; the man looked familiar, yet not. He couldn't describe why the face brought back a glimmer of something told to him before. He shook the feeling off. It probably wasn't important.  
  
The three continued around the house, looked at Ariane's old room, which looked as though a thirteen year old girl still lived there. One of the rooms was done in an old Japanese traditional style, with a Zen Buddhist shrine in the middle. Ariane's mother shooed them out of the room quickly, not wanting to disturb the ancestors. In the tiny backyard, Charlie noticed a small rock garden.  
  
Reaching mid-afternoon, Ariane put her casserole into the oven to heat it up, and Charlie began setting the table. He had been practicing at his own home without the use of his wand. He knew he would be unable to just throw out a charm and have the table set itself here. He chuckled to himself; it'd be a surefire way of giving away his secret to Ariane at any rate.  
  
By five o'clock, the three had sat down to dinner. They ate in silence, unable to think of anything to say. The tension was thick, as Charlie got the distinct feeling that Ariane's mother disliked him for some reason or another. He couldn't put his finger on it. He helped Ariane clean the dishes when they were finished, and load everything back into the car.  
  
Ariane hugged her mother goodbye, promising to visit again in a couple of weekends. She headed to her car. Charlie put out his hand again, for Ariane's mother to shake, but instead she pulled him over, out of earshot and eyesight of Ariane.  
  
"I know what you are," she hissed in his ear.  
  
"What?" gasped Charlie.  
  
"If you ever use any of it to hurt my daughter, you will regret it, wizard," she whispered furiously, before letting go of his shirt and making her way back inside of her house. Charlie watched her limp inside and slam the door before he turned and got into the passenger seat of Ariane's car. He didn't say anything for a while until he looked over at Ariane and saw two tear streaks down her cheeks.  
  
"What's wrong?" he asked with his voice full of concern.  
  
"I'm so sorry. My mother, I thought she might be different with you," she cried, letting it all out. "She's always hostile towards any guy I bring home, but that was the worst she's ever been. I thought she'd see you and not just some guy I'd brought home. I'm so sorry, Charlie. I shouldn't have put you through that."  
  
"No, it's okay, darling. I have an idea as to why she doesn't like me, but I'll have to think about it some more first. I promise you that I'll do all in my power to help her come to like me more, okay?" It broke his heart to see her cry, especially when it wasn't her fault.  
  
"Charlie?"  
  
"Ariane?"  
  
"Will you stay the night with me? I don't want to be alone feeling miserable."  
  
"Are you sure?" Charlie didn't want her to make a rash decision just because of a bad day. Ariane bit her lip.  
  
"Absolutely."  
  
*No worries!! He will reveal his powers soon enough!!!!! I'm going to try and write the next installment before my next class, so hopefully it'll be up by tonight. If not, definitely by tomorrow afternoon. Thanks for still reading and reviewing! 


	6. I Have Something to Tell You

And here we go. I'm getting very addicted to writing this story (I've started ignoring all of my other works in progress; I don't know if this is good thing or not!) Anyhow, you know the drill: read it, and if you want to, review it. (Although I'd really, really prefer it if you do both!!!)  
  
Disclaimer: Not mine. None of it. Zip. Nada. Zilch. (Depressing, isn't it?) * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *  
  
Charlie awoke in Ariane's bed, confused for a moment, and then remembered last night. Ariane was lying next to him, her breathing even and soft. Careful not to wake her, he slipped out of the bed and grabbed his clothes. His wand was still in his jacket, and knowing that she was still sound asleep, he started preparing breakfast. He put eggs in the frying pan and threw some bread in the toaster. Then he took careful aim with his wand and charmed both to cook the food to perfection.  
  
The food finished preparing itself quickly, and Charlie set it up on a small platter. He took lifted it carefully and walked back into the bedroom. Ariane was slowly waking up, and clapped in delight when she saw that he had prepared her breakfast in bed.  
  
"Are you feeling better?" he asked gently. She had been quite upset by the time they had finally gotten home the night before. She nodded vigorously, her mouth full with toast.  
  
"Yes," she said, swallowing. "Thank you for breakfast. I didn't know you could cook."  
  
"Oh, I can't take all the credit," he said.  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
"I'm going to jump in the shower really fast. Why don't you finish breakfast, and then get cleaned up. I want to take you somewhere. I have something to tell you." Ariane looked at him curiously; he had been avoiding a lot of her questions lately. Come to think of it, he was pretty vague about a lot of things. Charlie left her to her meal, and walked into the bathroom.  
  
Ten minutes later, Charlie came out of the bathroom, hair sopping wet. His towel was wrapped around his waist, showing off his athletic upper body. Ariane was sure she could just sit there and stare at him all day. His arms and chest were strong, and his stomach was washboard- perfect. How utterly delicious, she thought to herself. Charlie noticed her staring, and flexed his biceps with a cheesy grin. She laughed out loud, and jumped out of bed.  
  
"My turn for the shower," she said, giving him a quick kiss.  
  
"You could have joined me, you know," he told her.  
  
"Next time," she purred back. While Ariane was in the shower, Charlie dried his hair with a simple warmth spell and he pulled on his clothes. Ariane was out of the shower in record time, and she pulled on a light dress with a sweater. The weather was finally beginning to get warm again.  
  
"Just let me braid my hair, and then we can go," she said, brushing her silky black hair out. "How did you get your hair dry so fast? And where are we going anyways?"  
  
"Romania," he replied simply.  
  
"Charlie, you know I don't like traveling," she said, her fingers flying through her hair.  
  
"I promise it won't be a long trip." She looked at him strangely, and turned back to the mirror to finish off her French braid. She tied it off with a small piece of yellow ribbon, satisfied. She pulled on some slip-on shoes and followed Charlie out of the bedroom.  
  
"Back here," he said.  
  
"Charlie, that's the back yard. Somehow I don't think my super will be all that happy if we caught us trying to get to Romania by way of his back yard. Besides that, I don't even think that's possible," she told him with a chuckle.  
  
"Oh, it's possible. Just wait a second." He held his hand out to her, which she took. They stepped outside into the fresh morning air, the scent of dew wafting around them. "Are you ready?" he whispered.  
  
"Ready for what?"  
  
"Ariane, do you trust me?" He aimed his blue eyes into her gray ones.  
  
"Of course I do." He searched her eyes, making sure that she was truly ready.  
  
"Then let's go." He hugged her to his chest, pulled out his wand and apparated the two of them to his house in Romania. They landed in his living room.  
  
"Charlie. What just happened?" Ariane looked around, finding herself in unfamiliar surroundings.  
  
"I apparated us to my house; we're in Romania."  
  
"What? How? Charlie, I don't understand-"  
  
"I'm a wizard, Ariane. There's a world that coexists with the earth as you know it. I have magical powers, as do all of my siblings and parents. I went to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and I now work here in Romania on a dragon reservation."  
  
"A-a wizard?" she asked.  
  
"Yes. I'm sorry I couldn't tell you sooner, I desperately wanted to, darling," said Charlie. "It's just that we have to keep ourselves under wraps, and I wanted to make sure you could handle it."  
  
"Wait, so you mean to tell me you've been lying to me?"  
  
"Not entirely. Just stretching the truth. I'm sorry, Ariane."  
  
"A wizard, you say?" she asked. Charlie nodded. "Is that what you meant when you said you didn't deserve credit for cooking? You made my pots and pans cook it for you?" Charlie nodded again.  
  
"I understand if you're upset with me. But I must ask you not to spread it around to anyone else about wizards and witches."  
  
"Secrecy, I understand. Otherwise you'd have us non-magical folks always asking you for help." Ariane was always quick on the uptake. She hadn't denied anger at Charlie, and he began feeling as though he had just thrown the relationship down the drain when she spoke again. "So what else can you do? Can you show me anything?"  
  
"You're not mad at me?"  
  
"No. I understand why you had to keep it a secret. It makes sense now why you were able to meet me every day from Romania!" She smiled and Charlie felt his face break into a grin as well. "Come on, show me something!" she urged.  
  
"What do you want to see?"  
  
"Anything." She looked around the room, and pointed at the couch. "Can you make the couch shrink?" Charlie nodded, and pointed his wand at his sofa.  
  
"Reducto!" he cried. Before her eyes, the couch shrank to the size of her palm. She gasped in surprise, and bent over to pick up the miniscule couch.  
  
"It looks just like a doll's couch. Wow! Moving would be so much easier this way," she exclaimed. Charlie smiled at her amazement. She put it back down on the ground.  
  
"Engorgio," he said, and the couch returned to its normal size. Ariane turned to him, wrapping her arms around his neck.  
  
"Thank you for sharing this with me. I know it was hard for you to keep it a secret." Charlie nodded. "And you say your family and everyone that will be there this weekend can do all of the stuff that you can?"  
  
"My kid brothers and little sister are still learning, but they're all brilliant in their own ways. But be careful of Fred and George. They'll probably try to pull some jokes on you."  
  
"That's the twins, right?"  
  
"Yup."  
  
"So what do your parents and other brothers really do?"  
  
"Well, Bill really does work at a bank; it's a wizard's bank, though. It's called Gringott's, and it's controlled by goblins. He's a charm breaker there. And Percy and my father both work for the Ministry of Magic, our government. My father loves Muggles, and you'll probably get questioned at great length by him."  
  
"Muggles?" she asked.  
  
"Non-magic people. We call them "Muggles."  
  
"Oh. And you work with dragons?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Isn't that dangerous?" she asked, her brow furrowed with sudden worry.  
  
"Only if they bite you, claw you, or try to burn you to a crisp."  
  
"That explains all of the burns and scars, then." Charlie nodded. "And all the while I thought you were just clumsy. What else is different in this world?"  
  
"Well, we have our own sport, called Quidditch. It's played on broomsticks, with seven players per team. There are four balls, and three hoops to score with."  
  
"Did you play?"  
  
"In school. I was the Seeker - we'll probably play some this weekend, so you'll be able to watch." Ariane nodded. Then her eye caught the pictures on his wall.  
  
"Are the people in those pictures MOVING?" she asked.  
  
"Oh yeah - the subjects in pictures move around in our world." She leaned in closer for a better look.  
  
"So who's who?" she asked. Charlie grabbed the most recent family picture off the wall.  
  
"Well, the tall ones are my dad, Ron, Bill, and Percy. That's Fred, and that's George. No, wait. That one's George. Oh, never mind. It's one of them. And that's my mum, and my sister Ginny."  
  
"And that one's you." She pointed at the last red head in the picture, who was slowly sneaking up behind Percy, ready to steal the Head Boy Badge from him, to the amusement of the twins. The picture had been taken two years ago, right after Percy had gotten his Head Boy letter. Ariane laughed as Charlie's picture tackled Percy, and the whole redheaded family started laughing and shouting. Charlie set the picture down, and turned back to Ariane.  
  
"Are you sure you're okay with this?" he asked one last time.  
  
"Positive. I can't wait for this weekend." Charlie grinned and hugged her tightly.  
  
"They're going to love you! Especially Dad. Let me write them really fast and let them know you're coming."  
  
"Oooh, how do you communicate? I mean, that's why you looked so worried when I first gave you my number, right? You're not used to using telephones?"  
  
"We have two general ways of communicating. One is by owl." He gestured to Thor, who gave a soft hoot in acknowledgment. "And the second is by fire. But we're going to owl them today." He pulled out a quill and a piece of parchment and began to write, Ariane reading over his shoulder.  
  
Dear Mum, I just wanted to let you know that I am going to be bringing someone along to Easter. I don't think this will be a problem; the more the merrier, right? She's very special to me, and I want her to feel at home. Please don't tell Bill, Percy, Fred, George, Ron, or Ginny about her; I want it to be a surprise. Oh yeah - she's a Muggle (but don't tell Dad; he'd flip!) Can't wait to see you guys. We'll be apparating in on Friday night. Love, Charlie.  
  
Charlie rolled up the parchment, and walked over to Thor's cage. He tied the letter to the owl's leg, and let the bird fly off through the window.  
  
"Wow," Ariane breathed. "It's so amazing that they can do that."  
  
"Do what?"  
  
"Just deliver letters. I mean, I knew about carrier pigeons, but I didn't know that owls could do it, too." Charlie simply nodded.  
  
"So do you want to stay here for a while, or do you want me to take you back home?"  
  
"Let's stay here for a while. I'd like to explore a wizard's house; I've never been in one before," she said slyly. Charlie smiled at her, simply thankful that she had accepted his secret and he hadn't lost her. He knew his family would accept her as well as she had accepted him. His only worry was what the twins might do to him or Ariane, and he prayed that they wouldn't be exploding too many things while she was there. All in all, however, he couldn't wait for the week to be over and the weekend to arrive.  
  
*So, until next time (aka, tomorrow), please keep reading and reviewing!! Thanks again to everyone! 


	7. A Weasley Family Reunion

Okay, a couple of quick notes: I don't know if it's possible for a wizard to apparate with someone else, so I'm just going to pretend like it is (go artistic license!! Woo woo!) Also, this takes place towards the end of The Triumphant Trio's (aka, Harry, Ron, & Hermione) fifth year, and I know that Voldemort rose again and all that at the end of the fourth year, so we're going to pretend like the trio conquered the evil guy during Christmas vacation or something; either way he's gone and dead now in THIS story! Yeah. So that's it (for now at least).  
  
Disclaimer: I own Ariane and her mum!!! (At least it's something, right??) Oh yeah, and I don't own the Xerox company. Shame, really. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *  
  
Ariane's house was in complete disarray. Her clothes were strewn over the furniture, and her kitchen was a complete mess. She wanted desperately to impress Charlie's family, but she didn't know what wizards wore, what they ate, what they talked about. She had finally settled on a pair of slacks and a fitted sweater. Then she spent all day in the kitchen making a cake, but Ariane had never been much of a cook. Her kitchen, usually a pale yellow, was now frosted white with flour. She had no clue how to prepare for conversation. Charlie had mentioned that his father loved - what did he call them? Muggles? - And maybe she could just talk about that.  
  
Her palms were sweaty and she was just about to jump under her bed covers and hide when Charlie apparated into her living room. Since he had told her about being a wizard, he had been going back and forth between her house and his much more frequently. He usually spent the night with her and then went back to Romania for work. Most evenings he would charm her kitchen to make them dinner, and Ariane had never eaten so well since moving out from her mother's house.  
  
Charlie was dressed in his robes, which Ariane had never seen before. He had always dressed in Muggle clothing until now.  
  
"Charlie, what are you wearing?!" she gasped.  
  
"Robes," he said, confused, looking down at his attire.  
  
"Robes?" she said with a slight giggle.  
  
"Yeah. It's what we wear. Oh wait. You've never seen these; I've always worn Muggle clothing around you, haven't I, darling? Well, laugh all you want. You'll be seeing plenty of them in the very near future," he replied to her amusement. She walked over and hugged him, keeping her arms around his waist.  
  
"Oh, it's not that they're that funny. It's just that it does nothing for your figure," she said before breaking into giggles again. Charlie sighed and ran his fingers through his hair.  
  
"Are you ready to go?" he asked.  
  
"Um. Yeah, just let me get the cake."  
  
"Cake?" he repeated, bewildered. "Ariane, you didn't have to make a cake. My mum can charm an oven just as well as the next person."  
  
"Oh, I know. I just wanted to do something nice, that's all," she called from the kitchen.  
  
"As long as it can be split twelve ways. My brothers can get pretty scary if they have to fight for something as good as cake."  
  
"They'll be small pieces, but it'll have to do." She came out with a five layer chocolate cake, which slightly resembled the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Charlie bent his neck to the side to see what it would look like straight up.  
  
"It's a little, um, crooked, don't you think?" he asked. She playfully smacked him, and hooked her free arm through his, after grabbing a small knapsack on the ground.  
  
"It's edible, and that's all that counts. Shall we go, then?" Charlie grinned down at her and whipped out his wand. He quickly apparated the two of them to the front door of the Burrow. Ariane, now no longer having to hold onto him, let go of his arm and held her cake with both hands, struggling to make it look less crooked. Charlie opened the door through the kitchen and yelled up the stairs. Ariane followed him through the door, but stayed in the kitchen. She noticed a scrub working on a pan, all by itself; and a knife chopping up carrots which then added themselves to the simmering stewpot on the stove.  
  
"Hey, we're here!? Come on, isn't anyone going to give a welcome?" There was a sudden clambering of feet down the stairs, coming from all different levels. Mrs. Weasley was the first to greet them, coming from the adjacent living room.  
  
"Charlie, darling. I'm so glad you could make it; it's so wonderful to see you. How are the dragons?" Suddenly remembering his guest, she stood on her tiptoes, trying to peer over his shoulder. "Where is she?" Charlie turned around, and realized that Ariane must still be in the kitchen. He went back into the room, and found Ariane peering at the silverware, which seemed to be preparing to set itself.  
  
"Mum, this is Ariane." Ariane suddenly looked up, startled by the reappearance of Charlie, and the plump woman next to him. Ariane walked over, setting the cake on the table, and went to shake hands with Mrs. Weasley. Mrs. Weasley, being ever so happy for her son, took Ariane into a huge hug, which Ariane returned with gratitude. Interrupting the moment, Ginny came flying into the kitchen, eager to see her older brother. Charlie held out his arms, and she dived into them, and he swung her around, just as happy to see his sister as she was to see him.  
  
Quickly following Ginny came the twins, followed by Ron, Harry and Hermione. After some persuasion from Mrs. Weasley, Percy reluctantly came down from his room as well. They all clambered into the tiny kitchen, greeting Charlie, asking how everything's been, what's new, and so forth. Hermione was the exception, as she had been keeping in contact with Charlie up until the last week, and the two had developed a small friendship. Hermione made a bee line towards Ariane, who seemed to get lost in the sudden bustle of the Weasley household.  
  
"Hi," said the bushy haired fifth year. "My name is Hermione; you must be Ariane." Ariane smiled, grateful that she had someone to talk to, and didn't feel nearly as awkward.  
  
"Yes," she replied, taking Hermione's offered hand. "And you are?"  
  
"Hermione Granger. I'm one of Ron's friends," she replied, pointing out Ron, who was trying to keep the twins from shoving what looked suspiciously like a Canary Cream into his mouth. "Charlie wrote to me about you - said he needed to know about Muggles."  
  
"You know about Muggles?" asked Ariane, surprised to hear that not all wizards and witches were as clueless as Charlie.  
  
"I'm Muggle-born," explained Hermione. "Both of my parents are dentists." The two went on chatting for a couple of more minutes, when Fred suddenly realized that a new face was in the kitchen.  
  
"Oi!" he shouted. "Charlie, who's that? You didn't say anything about bringing anyone!" He pushed his way through the crowd of Weasleys and took Ariane's hand in his. "I'm Fred. Obviously, you've already realized that I'm the cute one of the family." George pushed him out of the way.  
  
"I'm George. Fred is delusional, but I can tell that you're smart, and you've already figured out that I'm the cute one." Ariane giggled and looked at Charlie, who was rolling his eyes behind the twins' backs. George looked Ariane up and down. "Why are you in Muggle clothing? Not planning on playing a friendly game of Quidditch with us?"  
  
"Well, you see, um, I'm not a witch," started Ariane, when Charlie pushed his way up to her. Charlie could see that she'd gotten everyone's attention now.  
  
"Everyone, I'd like you to meet Ariane. Wait, where's Dad and Bill?" Charlie's eyes scanned the crowd.  
  
"They'll be back in a second. They're just de-gnoming the outside dining area," Mrs. Weasley told him.  
  
"Well, all right, then, I'll just have them meet you later," Charlie said to Ariane. "Everyone, this is Ariane," he started again. "She's very dear to me, so no jokes," he said, eyeing the twins. "She's a Muggle, and the best Muggle there is." Charlie put his arm around her shoulders, and hugged her to him. Suddenly, there was a loud thump at the doorway.  
  
"Did I hear someone mention Muggles?" asked Mr. Weasley, stumbling into the kitchen. "By Jove. Charlie, did you bring home a Muggle? Pleased to meet you-"  
  
"Ariane," she supplied. "You must be Charlie's father."  
  
"Yes that I am. You and I will have to talk later on. Sit near me at dinner, will you?" He turned to his son. "Charlie, how are you? Come now, why didn't you tell me about this beautiful young woman?"  
  
"Oh, let's not all stand around here, squished in every direction! Go outside, the lot of you!" Mrs. Weasley shooed everyone out of the kitchen before another word was said. Charlie took Ariane's hand in his and led her outside. He noticed his older brother, Bill, throwing what looked like the last gnome out beyond the fencing. Charlie saw that Bill's hair had gotten increasingly longer, and he still had one of his ears pierced.  
  
"Oi, Bill!" he called. Bill turned and saw Charlie and Ariane walking towards him.  
  
"Charlie, how's it going? Aye, and who's this beautiful young woman?" Bill kissed Ariane's hand and winked at her.  
  
"Bill, this is Ariane," Charlie answered proudly. "Ariane, this is my older brother, Bill."  
  
"Older means more experienced," Bill said slyly to Ariane. Charlie narrowed his eyes at him, and then the three laughed at Bill's implications. "Have a seat, everyone, I imagine Mum's almost done cooking. If we eat fast enough, it'll still be light enough to play a little bit of Quidditch."  
  
After much running around, all twelve people were seated, and food was out in front of them. Ariane found herself seated next to Charlie and Mr. Weasley and across from Hermione, Ron, and Harry. As they ate, there were conversations flying all over, oftentimes intertwining with one another. Hermione and Ron were arguing about some new charm they were learning in school, Harry was involved in a conversation about Seeker tactics with Charlie, Bill was patiently explaining to his mother that he was not going to cut his hair nor remove his earring, the twins had their heads together, whispering about something or another, and Percy was telling anyone who would listen about his newest assignment at the Ministry.  
  
Mr. Weasley, however, had grabbed Ariane's attention and was asking every obscure question possible about Muggles: "How do films work?" "What exactly is a Xerox?" "Tell me about microwaves" and "Do curling irons truly work?" Ariane did her best to answer all of his questions completely, but there were some things that were so strange; she had to admit to not knowing how gel pens were constructed and why computer batteries were so much larger than AA's. Mr. Weasley was having a field day, however, and told Charlie to "Hang onto this one. Brilliant, she is." He winked at his son and turned back to Ariane.  
  
After everyone had ate their fill, and tasted a bit of Ariane's cake, all of the Weasley children dragged out their brooms and started dividing themselves into Quidditch teams. They obviously didn't have enough able bodied people to have two full teams, so they finally decided on Harry and Charlie as Seekers, Fred and George as Beaters, Ginny and Bill as Chasers, and Ron as one of the Keepers. After much begging, they finally got Mr. Weasley to play the other Keeper, but he promised to dodge any Quaffle or Bludger that looked as if it were going to injure him or cause pain.  
  
Ariane and Hermione sat on the sidelines, Ariane watching intently and Hermione engrossed in a book that was small by her usual standards. Ariane clapped delightedly whenever Charlie tried to trick Harry with diversions, and gasped whenever she thought he was going to hit the ground at high speeds. In the end, though, Charlie's team ended up scoring the most, but Harry caught the Snitch, enabling his team to win. Harry, Ginny, Fred, and Mr. Weasley did a little victory dance, and all eight players landed to take a breath and talk.  
  
Noticing Hermione, Charlie asked what she was reading. Ron and Harry groaned, preparing themselves for a longwinded explanation that would probably be longer than the book itself. Hermione glared at them, and then looked back to Charlie.  
  
"It's a book detailing the rise and fall of You-Know-Who. It describes some of his first victims and how their deaths contributed to his power. It goes through the major points in his reign, and his major downfall, and then his final perishing. It was only published a month ago. Now that's he's finally gone, I suppose people are willing to actually read and write about it." Charlie was intrigued. He observed that Hermione was almost done with the book.  
  
"Do you mind if I read it after you?"  
  
"Sure, I'll be done with it by tomorrow. You can just owl it back to me when you're done."  
  
"Thanks," said Charlie. Ariane peered over Hermione's shoulder.  
  
"Why is there a picture of the three of you in there?" she asked.  
  
"Ron, Harry, and Hermione here helped bring about the downfall of You-Know- Who," stated Charlie proudly.  
  
"'You-Know-Who?'" repeated Ariane.  
  
"We do not speak his name," said Bill.  
  
"Well, most of us don't," said Ron pointedly, looking at Harry.  
  
"What's his real name?" asked Ariane.  
  
"Voldemort," said Harry clearly, making all of the Weasleys flinch. "Oh, come on, the guy's dead! He can't come back!"  
  
"What did this guy do that was so horrible?" asked Ariane.  
  
"Oh, don't let's get into that, dear," interjected Mr. Weasley. "No need to ruin a perfectly good day with talk of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named."  
  
The Weasleys, Harry, Hermione, and Ariane all went back inside, setting up sleeping arrangements, and eventually settling down again in front of the fire in the living room. Ariane was fascinated by the knitting needles knitting by themselves and the baby pictures of all of the Weasley children. She sat back and listened with affection as Mr. and Mrs. Weasley recounted stories from Charlie's childhood for her, and laughed with everyone else as Bill and the twins told her some of his more embarrassing blunders. Finally, late into the night, everyone retired to bed: Hermione, Ginny, and Ariane sharing one room; Harry, Ron and the twins in another; and Bill, Percy, and Charlie in the last room. Charlie walked Ariane to her room, and kissed her good night.  
  
"Thank you for sharing your family with me," she whispered. "I've had so much fun here."  
  
"Thank you for being so wonderful," he whispered back. He kissed her once more and went upstairs to his bed.  
  
The next morning, Ariane awoke to find everyone else already downstairs, smells of breakfast filling the air. The day went by quickly, with another Quidditch match and what he and Bill called "Table Wars." The last time they had played the latter game was the night before the Quidditch World Cup. Lunch and dinner went by in the same manner as the night before, and they all spent another night in front of the fire sharing stories of the last two years since the whole family had gotten together. Charlie himself filled everyone in on the reservation's latest recruits: two dragons from South America, a species that many had thought to be extinct.  
  
The next morning was Easter, and they started off the day with an egg hunt. Ariane was charmed when she opened one of the eggs and discovered that fireworks shot out of them. One of her eggs, unfortunately, had a Canary Cream inside of it. After turning into a small yellow bird for the first time, she truly felt part of the family. Every one of the Weasleys had been a victim of the twin's jokes at one point or another, and she was delighted to join the club. After a large brunch, Charlie and Ariane announced that they had to apparate back to London.  
  
It took a good hour to finally say goodbye and leave, as Mrs. Weasley felt Ariane needed to take home food for her kitchen, to save her the trouble of cooking ("Honestly, I don't know how you do it without magic!") and Mr. Weasley had a few last minute questions for her ("Can you tell me again the function of a loofah?") Charlie gave each of his siblings a hug goodbye, and promised to write Ron more often. Hermione handed over her book, and Charlie promised to have it sent back to her good as new, and quickly, too. They finally were able to apparate out, Ariane's knapsack bulging with food (and a couple of surprises from the twins).  
  
Finally back in her flat, Ariane put the stuff down on her kitchen table and walked back out to Charlie. He had put on one of her favorite CDs, a Frank Sinatra.  
  
"Dance with me," he told her. He took her up in his arms, and they danced slowly in her living room in silence. After several minutes, she looked up at him.  
  
"Charlie," she said. He looked down at her. "I love you." He grinned, and kissed her.  
  
"I love you, too." He held her tighter to him, and cherished this moment. It would surely be one to remember.  
*Okay, sorry for the fluffiness again, but it needed to be said, and I don't think it's all that possible to say "I love you" without a tad bit of fluffy surroundings (at least for my writings, it's not!!) Anyhow, thanks again for reading, and don't forget to review (it's that little button down there!) To my reviewers: my day goes by SO much better knowing people appreciate my writing; I am indebted to you (I'm trying to make it up to you by writing more!) 


	8. Daddy Dearest

Okay, I was at work this morning, and I realized that Ariane would add up to be around 29 years old. Charlie probably isn't this old (as Ron & Ginny are still in their fifth and fourth years, and Ginny stated that she wanted to go to Hogwarts since Bill started). Therefore, I am simply stating that Charlie likes older women (apparently). So, without further ado, read and review on!  
  
Disclaimer: I own none of it, and after talking to the Registrar and Business office at school, I'm about to lose even more money to pay for this semester (UGH!) * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *  
  
The Monday morning after Easter, Charlie apparated to his own house in Romania, having already told his boss that he would be late (owing to a family reunion). He settled down with Hermione's book and he flipped to the first page and began reading. "You-Know-Who began life in a tragic way. Born to a witch and Muggle father, he lost both of his parents due to death and abandonment, respectively. His full given name, Tom Marvolo Riddle, is known to few, even those who attended Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry with him. Riddle was one of the most brilliant students Hogwarts has seen to day."  
  
* * *  
  
Ariane pushed open the door to her mother's house. "Mum! I'm home!" she called out in Japanese. Ariane had retained very little of the language, but she knew her mother appreciated it when she used what bits she did remember. Her mother scuttled into the front room to hug her daughter.  
  
"Come, come," she said, leading Ariane into the living room and sitting her down on the couch.  
  
"Mum, what's all this about?" asked Ariane, switching into English. Her mother had invited her over (for no apparent reason), which was highly unusual. Ariane usually saw her mother every other weekend, and then on birthdays or Japanese New Year. But almost never did her mother ask Ariane to come out of the blue like this.  
  
Ariane's mother hurried in, a large photo album in her grasp. Ariane groaned.  
  
"Mother, please tell me you didn't make me drive out here to give me a lecture on family history." Her mother only glared at her and set the photo album down in her lap. Sighing, Ariane turned to the first page.  
  
* * *  
  
Charlie sped through the first and second chapters, detailing Voldemort's upbringing in a Muggle orphanage and his years at Hogwarts. The third chapter, titled "The Disappearance of Tom Riddle and the Rise of You-Know-Who" intrigued Charlie, who wasn't known for his zeal in reading. He read on with renewed fervor.  
  
"After graduating from Hogwarts, the newly licensed wizard set off, telling nobody his destination. Soon, Hogwarts' prized pupil had disappeared; even the great wizard Albus Dumbledore could not track his whereabouts. Rumor had it that he had left for Eastern Europe, and had probably experienced a painful death by the banshees and vampires that are said to inhabit said area of the world.  
  
"Many years passed, Mr. Riddle believed dead. Five years after his disappearance, however, many more wizards and witches showed up missing as well." Charlie paused and remembered Bertha Jorkins sadly.  
  
* * *  
  
Ariane looked on at the pictures of her parents' wedding obligingly. She had seen them thousands of times before. When she was little, she used to pull out her parents' wedding album and picture her own wedding, with her father there to give her away. She knew now that this would never be possible, and it pained her to see her mother still clinging to the fantasies of her father returning.  
  
Ariane sighed and started to stand up. "Mother, I don't have time to do this. I've already missed half a day's work coming out here. Can't we do this Sunday or something?" But her mother sent her an admonishing glare that told Ariane to sit back down and not leave until instructed to do so.  
  
Ariane sat with a thump and felt her mother shoved the heavy photo album back onto her lap. She turned to the next page, finding the expected family pictures: one at the hospital, newborn Ariane in her father's arms; age one, age two, and age three family portraits. Ariane looked sadly at her father's smiling face. Her mother urged her to turn to the next page, with surprising urgency. Flipping the page over, Ariane was shocked to see the pictures were moving.  
  
* * *  
  
By far, Chapter Three was the longest and most detailed. Charlie took the time to look at each deceased wizard and witch's pictures, those who were thought to be Voldemort's first victims. With seriousness not in his usual character, Charlie read each of their obituaries that had appeared in the Daily Prophet at the time.  
  
Reading on in the text, Charlie discovered that Voldemort's first 'Dark Mark' attacks were on Muggle families: "In order to prove some sort of superiority over Muggles, You-Know-Who began killing Muggle families and leaving what is now known as the 'Dark Mark' over their households. Ministry workers struggled to cover it up, but unfortunately were unable to catch the unknown culprit from the beginning. Much more unorganized than the current Ministry, they made severe mistakes, such as failing to modify the first few Muggle witness' memories." Charlie looked on with interest, which quickly turned to stupefied horror, as he realized the first of these Muggle victims was Ariane's father.  
  
* * *  
  
Ariane struggled to find words. "Mum, how can these - why are they - how do YOU have wizard pictures?!" she finally got out.  
  
"He finally told you then, did he? I could smell him as soon as he walked through the door - wizards. All of them are the same," her mother said bitterly.  
  
"Charlie is a good man, Mother. Now, tell me, please: What's going on?"  
  
Ariane's mother gestured to the pictures, and Ariane looked closer. The first was a picture of her first house's living room. There was a body on the ground, men and women bustling around. She noticed her mother in the corner of the photo, crying hysterically, and gripping a three-year-old Ariane in her arms. There was a wizard speaking to her with unmistakable red hair: Arthur Weasley.  
  
* * *  
  
Charlie read with horror that Voldemort had gone into the Hara household, and apparently used the Crucio curse on Ariane's father first, before finishing him off with the Killing Curse, Avada Kedavra. For some unknown reason, he had left Ariane and her mother alive and physically unharmed. Charlie had no doubt that the encounter left both emotionally scarred to the point of repression for Ariane and who knew what for her mother.  
  
Charlie thought that his horror could go no deeper until he read that the Ministry came by, "to clean up," most posing as Muggle police officers; one posing as a doctor. Charlie had a hard time believing what the words were telling him, but it was all there, in black and white, with photos to boot: Arthur Weasley, his own father, had been the one to tell Ariane's mother that her husband died of a mere heart attack.  
  
* * *  
  
"He came in here, with a stick in his hand - a wand. He looked around, and then pointed it at your father. He muttered something, and your father started jerking around in pain. I yelled at him to stop, but every time I got near him, he pushed me away somehow, like with an invisible force. After a while, he stopped and your father told me to love you and take care of you, as if he knew what was coming next. Then there was a flash of green light, and your father died. I thought the man was going to do the same to you and I, but he merely looked at us and told me to remember the moment, and make sure it haunted my dreams. He said you were too young to truly enjoy killing, and he would be back when he would be able to savor your death. And then he disappeared," Ariane's mother finished. There were tears flowing freely down her cheeks.  
  
"But how did you get these pictures, Mother?" Ariane was confused; she didn't know how to react to the story of her father's death.  
  
"More wizards came by, pretending to be policemen, doctors. They took pictures. Dr. Weasley, he said. Died of a heart attack. As if I was that stupid. They were all in it together, I know it. They all hate us, and they use their magic to watch us suffer; their form of amusement, I suppose. They sent me these pictures after a week. An owl dropped them off with a note written in green. It told me to let the pictures keep the memories fresh. I knew it was from the first one, the one that killed your father. But the others put him up to it!" she spat.  
  
Ariane shook her head in disbelief. Mr. Weasley - the kind, jovial man whom she had met only three days ago - he couldn't possibly. Could he? And Charlie - was he really just playing with her? Ariane didn't know what to believe anymore.  
  
* * *  
  
Charlie sat back in his chair, stunned. With this new information on Ariane's father, he couldn't possibly keep it from her. But how would she react? No wonder her mother hated him so. Her first and only interaction with wizards, and she had seen her husband tortured and killed, and then was lied to; by Charlie's own father no less, instead of having her memory modified and sparing her this pain. As Charlie read on, he learned that the crime scene photos taken by the Ministry had been stolen, presumably by Voldemort, and given to Ariane's mother. When the Ministry officials went to retrieve the photos (and most likely to modify their memories as well), they discovered Ariane and her mother gone. They had already moved, and none of the neighbors knew where. The Ministry officials searched for a couple of more days, before having their full attention turned to another attack.  
  
Of all people to fall in love with, she had to be a Muggle, thought Charlie again. Of all Muggles to fall in love with, I found the one whose family was hurt by the worst of our kind, and then lied to about it by my own father. Despite these negative thoughts, Charlie DID love Ariane, and he felt she had to know the truth. It was because of his love for her that his heart was aching with this knowledge. But maybe if he was there for her, she might be able to accept it more easily. It would be hard to digest, yes, but no child should go through life believing a lie. He pulled his boots on, and apparated to her flat in Kilburn.  
  
* * *  
  
Ariane drove home, her head buzzing with thoughts, questions, doubts. She had to talk to Charlie, confront him. But she feared that her mother was right about him; that he was just using his magic to play with her. Her mother had been right about all of her past boyfriends, why wouldn't she be right about this one, too? It was a numb drive home, not feeling like the normal two hours it usually took. She pulled into her driveway, and unlocked her door to see Charlie Weasley standing in her front hallway. He noticed her tears, and went to hug her, not knowing the reason she was crying.  
  
"Stop," she said. "Don't." She brushed past him.  
  
"I need to tell you something," he started.  
  
"Like what? Like the fact that my father was killed by a wizard? That YOUR father lied to us about it? I don't need to hear excuses, Charlie. My father is dead. He's DEAD. And it took me my entire life to finally figure out how, and then I learn that your kind is involved!" Ariane shouted at him, startled that she was yelling at him.  
  
"Ariane, I just found out this information myself today!"  
  
"Yeah, I bet," she spat back.  
  
"Ariane, look -"  
  
"No, YOU look. Actually, no. I don't want to discuss this. You need to leave. Go back to Romania or something. Just go. Leave." With that, Ariane stalked into her bedroom, slamming the door. Charlie could tell that it would do no good to follow after her; in fact, he'd probably end up with a lamp or alarm clock impaled in his head. He apparated out of her flat, deciding she needed a while to cool off. No matter how he looked at it, though, he was heartbroken. He feared never seeing her again, and he was terrified that this new information for both of them would ruin their relationship. Most of all, though, he hated Voldemort. Hated him for what he did to Ariane's family, hated him for what he did to all of his other victims: the Longbottoms, the Potters, and countless others. Hated him because, even though he was finally defeated, he was still coming between people. His past was still haunting lives.  
  
*Well. Finally got the "plot twist" in (I like to think it's a twist, anyways!) So anyhow, thanks again for reading, and review if you'd like.  
  
P.S. Sorry if the layout of the chapter was confusing at first; I just had to find a way to show that Ariane and Charlie were learning this information simultaneously, and each was seeing a different viewpoint with slightly different info as such. 


	9. An Awkward Situation

A/N: Sorry it took so long to post this chapter; too much homework, and studying for exams!! Anyways, thanks (as ever) for reading and, if you choose to, review.  
  
Disclaimer: I do not own anything that sounds even vaguely recognizable. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *  
  
Charlie sighed as he came home from work on Thursday night. It had been three days since Ariane had blown up at him, and he wasn't entirely sure how to approach her again. He had thrown himself into his work, staying late hours, and showing up several hours early. He had even worked through lunch a couple of times. The more he worked, the less he could think about Ariane. But when he got home was when the problems started.  
  
His mind would start buzzing with thoughts about Ariane, what she said, what had really happened twenty-three years ago to her father, how his own father was involved. With nothing to distract him, he would toss and turn, trying to fall asleep but only succeeding with nightmares to invade his dreams. After five or six hours of restless sleep, he'd drag himself out of bed and numbly take a shower. It was only when he got back to work and he could direct his thoughts exactly that he'd start feeling better.  
  
His coworkers had noticed Charlie's change. Each had their own theories, most of them whispered behind his back. Obviously, being none of their business, nobody wanted to ask him exactly what had happened, particularly since none of them knew anything about this new girl he had been seeing. Charlie was somewhat aware of the whisperings, but he paid them no mind. Next week, there'd be new gossip, and this whole escapade would be forgotten.  
  
* * *  
  
Ariane wasn't having a much better time than Charlie. She regretted yelling at him and allowing her Hara temper to speak rather than rationally thinking her words through. She had spent the last few days arguing with herself, and the fleeting feeling that she was probably resembling one of the multiple personality patients she worked with crossed her mind more than once. She desperately wanted to talk to him again, but she didn't know how to. Besides that, she promised herself years ago that she'd never run after anyone.  
  
Working with other psychologists didn't make her life easier, as they were all trained to read people and figure out the innermost workings of their fellow human's minds. Ariane found herself seeing more patients daily, just to avoid her coworkers. Unlike Charlie, however, she couldn't just push away her thoughts as soon as she got to work. They were constantly flying above her, like gnats that just wouldn't swat away.  
  
Ariane thought more and more about her father's death. Yes, it was a wizard that killed her father, but Ariane herself had once been at the center of prejudice, and she realized now that by blaming Charlie, she was doing the same to him that kids in grammar school had done to her. Not that she could apologize to him, seeing as how she had no clue how to get to his place in Romania nor did she know how to find an owl that'd deliver a letter.  
  
* * *  
  
After another day's hard work, Charlie slumped down on his couch in front of his fireplace. He had just closed his eyes when he realized that his brother Bill's head was in the middle of the flames, his red hair almost blending in with the flames.  
  
"Yo, Charlie," he called.  
  
"Hey, Bill," Charlie replied wearily. Charlie moved to sit in front of the fire to talk to his brother.  
  
"Hey, what's wrong?" asked Bill, his brow burrowing in concern.  
  
"Just a little tired. Long day at work," said Charlie shortly. Bill looked at him suspiciously, but didn't ask anymore.  
  
"Okay, well, listen up. Rest up before this weekend," Bill instructed. "You and I are taking our girls - "  
  
"You've got a girl?" interrupted Charlie.  
  
"Well, she's not technically, you know, but anyways," said Bill hurriedly. "I've got a couple of free nights in Paris; I won a nice little bet at work. So what do you say?"  
  
"Have fun," replied Charlie gloomily.  
  
"Okay, now I know something's wrong! What happened with Ariane in the past, what, four days? You can't have screwed up that badly in that short of time!" Charlie sighed.  
  
"I guess my only crime is being what I am - a wizard. That's what I get for getting involved with a Muggle, eh?" Charlie tried a weak smile, but failed.  
  
"Charlie, what happened?" Bill asked seriously. Charlie quickly filled him in on Monday's events.  
  
"Wait, okay, so Ariane's father was You-Know-Who's first victim? And then Dad was part of the cleaning crew, but they all forgot to modify the memories?" Bill recapped in disbelief. Charlie nodded miserably.  
  
"And now I think she hates me. I mean, I guess I can understand where she's coming from, but - "  
  
"Charlie. Have you even tried talking to her since?" Charlie shook his head. "I bet you've been going to work and not coming home until you absolutely have to, right? Jeez, Charlie, you've been doing that since you were a kid. Something bad happens and you just work until you drop from exhaustion. You need to stop running and just face it."  
  
"I'm not running," retorted Charlie. "I'm avoiding. There's a difference."  
  
"Running, avoiding, whatever. Talk to her, Charlie. It may just turn out that she had just found out devastating news and her temper was running high. She may have said things that she regrets. Besides that, all she did was tell you to leave. She could have just wanted time to think things over alone. And it's not like she can just owl you and say she's sorry or she can just apparate to your house," scolded Bill. Charlie jutted out his chin stubbornly.  
  
"You don't know her like I do, Bill. I think she meant to leave and not come back."  
  
"Good God, you really can be an obstinate prat sometimes, Charlie. I saw you two at Easter. She really cares for you. I'd even go so far as to say she loves you, and I know that you love her. I'm not blind; all of us could see it."  
  
"Do you really think so?" asked Charlie.  
  
"Yes, you whopping pansy!" cried Bill.  
  
"Okay, enough with the names already!" said Charlie. "I just - I'm not sure what to do about it, you know? Just apparate to her house and tell her what? I don't reckon she'd be too keen on me just showing up at her house!"  
  
"Send her an owl," Bill suggested. "I know she's a Muggle, but she's known about us long enough to know what's going on."  
  
"I suppose."  
  
"Okay, well, I have to get going. Get this sorted out, Charlie. I expect to see you and Ariane in Paris in three days." Bill gave Charlie the coordinates to which he was to apparate, which Charlie grudgingly took down. They said their goodbyes, and Charlie was once again left with a headless fire.  
  
Charlie walked into his bedroom, feet dragging. He didn't want to write Ariane; he wanted to see her. He wanted to hold her, feel her in his arms again. He stood at the foot of his bed for several minutes, contemplating his choices. Finally deciding that he needed to know if it was over or not, he pulled on some jeans and a sweater. Better to talk to her looking 'normal' he reasoned. Taking in a deep breath, he apparated to Ariane's flat, and sat waiting on her front step until she came home from work.  
  
* * *  
  
Ariane sat at her desk, and filled out the last form of the day. Not yet a clinical psychologist, as she was still working on her doctorate, she was often stuck with the paperwork. She didn't mind staying after work - at least not this week. One of her coworkers, Dierdre Westley, poked her head over Ariane's desk.  
  
"Hey, Ariane," she said. "What do you say you and I go and get a drink after this? See if we can still pull a few numbers." Ariane smiled, but sighed.  
  
"Sorry, Dierdre. Just not in the mood, I guess."  
  
"You aren't still on about that chap, are you? You never even let any of us meet him!"  
  
"There were reasons for that. Besides, I'd really just like to go home and take a long hot bath."  
  
"Suit yourself then. Don't stay too late - people will start thinking you're our new resident workaholic." Ariane gave a wane smile and turned back to her desk. She stared at her computer blankly for several minutes, and then shut it down. She grabbed her coat and purse and headed toward the front of the building. A bath really did sound like the best plan for the evening, and she intended to get on with it as soon as possible.  
  
As she pulled up to her driveway, she noticed a familiar redhead sitting on her doorstep. She really hadn't expected Charlie to show up today; nay, she hadn't expected him to show up ever again. Not after the way she had spoken to him. But now that he was here, she felt a surge of anger, her guard going up. She slowly turned the ignition off and got out of the car. Charlie stood up as she walked toward him.  
  
"Ariane, I -"  
  
"What are you doing here, Charlie?"  
  
"Straight to the point, as ever, I see." Ariane simply stared, waiting for him to answer her question. "Right, then," he sighed. "I guess I'm here because I need to know."  
  
"Know what?"  
  
"About us, Ariane. I realize that you've been hurt, that your family has been torn apart. But - I guess - well, I just don't think that should ruin what we had."  
  
"And what did we have, Charlie? A relationship based on a lie?"  
  
"No, Ariane. We had a relationship based in love. Because I loved you. I still do." Ariane looked down at the ground. She heaved a great sigh and pushed past him into her flat. Charlie turned and watched her go inside.  
  
"Well? Aren't you coming in? I thought you wanted to talk. So let's talk, Charlie Weasley." Unsure if this was a good sign or not, Charlie followed her inside. Ariane gestured to the couch. "Sit down."  
  
"Ariane, I know that we've only known each other for a couple of months," he started. "But we really had something special. When it's right, it's right. And we were right -"  
  
"Stop, Charlie," she interrupted. She rubbed her temples for a few seconds before she started talking again. "God, this is an awkward situation. Listen, Charlie, the past two months with you have been some of the best of my life. But, I don't know. It's just that I'm having a really hard time accepting the means of my father's death, and then the whole involvement with your father. It's just - "  
  
"Hard to get a firm grasp on," he finished. "Ariane, I've been having the same problems," he said. "I am not any happier about this information than you are. But at the same time, I had nothing to do with it. And if you let this come between us, then the man that killed your father is still at large. He may have been defeated, but he's still coming between people! Ariane, he killed countless people, him and his followers. Remember Harry? My brother Ron's friend, the one with the black hair and glasses? His parents were killed when he was only a little baby. He's never known his parents. You are not the only victim here, Ariane! And even if you are a victim, you're choosing to let yourself be one. I'm asking you to choose something different; if not for me, then for yourself. Especially for yourself. Don't let this man, this disgrace of a wizard, ruin anything else. Don't let him come between us, because if you do, he's still winning." Charlie's blue eyes flashed intensely throughout his speech.  
  
Ariane found it hard to keep eye contact, but she knew that all of what he was saying was true. She opened her mouth to speak, but found that nothing would come out. It seemed as though she had come down with a huge case of laryngitis, and instead of speaking vocally, two tears fell down her cheeks. Charlie noticed them and wiped them away.  
  
"Look, Ariane, I'm sorry, but I had to say it. Not all of us are the same, Ariane. Most wizards or witches would never hurt a fly. I know I'm an obstinate prat sometimes, even a 'whopping pansy' - "  
  
"Charlie, what are you talking about?" He had started rambling nonsense, giving Ariane back her voice.  
  
"I don't know. I guess - I guess I should leave." Ariane didn't know how to react to what he had said, so she stood up with him as he headed towards the door. "Um, listen. If what I've said to you makes you change your mind about us, I'll be in Paris this weekend, with Bill and some girl he's met. We'll be staying at a Muggle hotel. I want you to join us." Charlie wrote down the name of the hotel. With no expression on her face, Ariane took the piece of paper that he had written on. Charlie gave her one last look, kissed her cheek hesitantly, and apparated from her flat. Alone once more, Ariane looked down at the paper.  
  
"'Meet me in the lobby at seven. Hôtel Malte Opéra, 63 Rue de Richelieu. I love you, Charlie'," Ariane read out loud. She didn't know what to do. Sure, she had thought it all out in her head before, what she would say to him, but now that he had come and gone, with her practically silent throughout, she was back in square one.  
  
Ariane knew all of what he said was true. But going to Paris would constitute as running after him, wouldn't it? Ariane walked to the dresser in her room and pulled out a piece of paper with a list that she had written two years ago. She read it to herself, thinking about her present situation.  
  
'I will never run after a guy. Not a one of them is worth it. It'd only add up to my humiliation and their annoyance. I will never feel sorry for myself. It does me no good and it doesn't help the situation. I am not a victim. I never have been, and I never will be. I will have a good time. Staying unhappy for more than one hour at a time is unhealthy and isn't worthwhile anyways.' Ariane had written this after her the ending of a particularly nasty relationship, and she had stuck to it fairly well ever since. Until now: she was debating running after Charlie, even though he had given her open invitation to. She'd been feeling sorry for herself for the past week. She'd been a victim of - what was his name? Voldemort? She'd been a victim of him ever since her mother told her of her father's death almost a week ago. And she'd been unhappy. So unhappy that she'd cried herself to sleep for the past week, and she'd never done that in her life.  
  
Ariane looked again at the scrawled note that Charlie had written with the hotel information on it. She couldn't run after him. It would be invading into her integrity. She crumpled up the note and threw it in the trash can. Ariane looked longingly at the trash, wanting to pull the note back out, but she wouldn't allow herself to. Taking a deep breath, she turned on her heel and turned on the bath.  
  
* * *  
  
"Hey, Bill!" Charlie called to his older brother.  
  
"Charlie!" Bill walked across the lobby, and enveloped his younger brother into a hug. "Where's Ariane?"  
  
"She'll be here later tonight," answered Charlie.  
  
"Good deal."  
  
"So tell me, Bill, how is it that you managed two rooms for three nights at a hotel like this in Paris?" Bill's tanned face broke into a grin.  
  
"Well, we've got a new worker in Egypt, straight out of Beauxbatons. Apparently she has connections here - Muggle relatives of some sort. Distant, but relatives all the same. Anyhow, I bet her - er - something, and, well, I won, and so we have two rooms for three nights, free of charge with as much room service as we want!" Charlie looked at his brother, wanting to ask what the bet had been, but knew from past experiences not to pry - yet. Charlie looked over his brother's shoulder.  
  
"So where's this girl that you were talking about?"  
  
"Oh, yes. Well, that's the one that I had the bet with. Part of the winnings included her joining us. That's her, right there." Bill pointed at a beautiful young woman, speaking rapidly in French to one of the managers of the hotel. Charlie squinted.  
  
"Bill, that's not - is it?" Charlie looked at his brother in disbelief. Bill nodded proudly.  
  
"Yup. Fleur Delacour."  
  
"From the Triwizard Tournament?" Bill nodded again. Charlie nodded in appreciation. "I had no clue that she wanted to go into your line of work," Charlie commented.  
  
"Well, who wouldn't, when they could have me as a coworker?" Charlie rolled his eyes good naturedly.  
  
"So are we checked in and all that?"  
  
"Yeah, rooms 345 and 347. Here's your key." Bill fished around in his pockets for a moment, and then handed Charlie a card key.  
  
"This is a key?"  
  
"Apparently. You slide it in this thing on the door - supposedly more safe that way."  
  
Charlie shook his head. "Muggles."  
  
"I know. So when's Ariane getting here?" Charlie didn't answer straight away, and Bill started prying harder. "Charlie? She is coming, right?"  
  
"I hope so," Charlie muttered.  
  
"You hope so? Charles Anthony Weasley, didn't you talk to her?"  
  
"Yeah, I did! That night, right after you and I spoke! I told her to meet me here at seven, but she didn't say if she would or not."  
  
"Great," said Bill sarcastically, throwing his hands in the air. Fleur came walking up to the two red headed men.  
  
"'Ello," she said to Charlie, holding out her hand. "'Oo must be Bill's younger bruzzer, iz zat correct?"  
  
"Yes," said Charlie, shaking her hand.  
  
"'Oo look fameeliar."  
  
"Er, yes, I was one of the dragon handlers at the Triwizard Tournament."  
  
"Zat iz right. I remember now. Come. Ve vill go to our rooms now to settle in and zen ve can go for deener heer in ze restaurant." The two men followed her to the elevators and into their respective rooms.  
  
Half an hour later, the three met in the restaurant on the first floor of the hotel, just off from the lobby. All three opened their menus, Bill and Charlie both had to ask Fleur for help in deciphering what each dish was. When the waiter came, Fleur had to order for all three, being the only one who spoke French. Charlie kept looking at the clock on the wall as it crept nearer to seven o'clock.  
  
"Relax, mate," said Bill. "From what you've told me, I think she'll show." Charlie had filled Bill in, word-for-word, as to what he said to Ariane only two nights prior. They finished their dinner quickly, and Bill escorted Fleur up to the room that they were sharing. Charlie walked out to the lobby to wait. His palms were sweaty, and he was sure that his insides were going to burst if they got any tighter.  
  
"Monsieur? Où est l'Arc de Triomphe ? Ma femme et moi, nous n'habitons pas de Paris, et nous voulons voir les sites historiques." A man had come up to Charlie, rambling in French. Unable to understand a word, Charlie shrugged his shoulders and pointed to a hotel employee. The man grumbled off, frustrated with Charlie, apparently not understanding that the most French that Charlie knew was "Bonjour." Romanian he could handle; French, never. During the five minutes that Charlie was distracted, he had forgotten about the time. It was now five after seven, and Ariane was nowhere to be seen. Charlie decided to wait a few more minutes. Maybe she had traveling problems. Or maybe she had gotten into a car accident on the way here. His heart wrenched at the thought.  
  
Stop it, Weasley, he told himself. Thinking like this is not going to help anyone! She's not hurt; she's just a little late, he tried to convince himself. Soon, though, it was half past seven, then eight, and then eight thirty. Charlie had just started towards the elevators when he heard someone call his name. Someone with a British accent. He turned to see Ariane running towards him, and he caught her in his arms, and they just held each other for an undeterminable amount of time.  
  
*A/N: Wow. This is getting so chick-flicky (getting?? It was from the beginning!). Sorry about that. BTW, I don't know exactly how the "fire communication" thing is initiated, so I just had Bill's head pop up in Charlie's fireplace. Anyone with info on that please let me in on it! Also, I looked up Charlie's middle name, and I read somewhere that it was Anthony, but any info to the contrary, again, please let me know. Anyhow, thanks for reading. Review if you wish. Again, sorry it took so long to post this chapter. Oh yeah, and I'm not sure if I wrote Fleur's accent correctly, so I apologize if it's too German or Swedish or whatever. 


	10. La Ville de L'amour

A/N: Umm. not much to say. Thanks for reading/reviewing; it is truly appreciated!  
  
Disclaimer: Ugh - just read all the other ones. The same applies to this chapter, too. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *  
  
"Ariane - I thought you weren't coming," Charlie murmured into her hair, breathing in her scent.  
  
"I wasn't," she answered. "I debated for a really long time, and then I knew I had to see you so I got in my car, but there was a traffic jam and then I had to go all the way under the channel - "  
  
"Shhh. As long you're here now, right? That's all that matters." He hugged her tighter to him.  
  
"Charlie - I - " She started to pull away from him.  
  
"What is it? What's wrong?" asked Charlie, confused.  
  
"I'm sorry," she whispered. "I'm sorry that I came running after you, and I'm sorry that I blamed you for my father's death. I'm sorry for showing up late, and -"  
  
"Ariane, it's okay. I don't care about any of that." Ariane smiled weakly at him, which he returned with a grin. For some reason, they both started laughing, side splitting, hiccupping guffaws, and earning looks from the more distinguished elite French class in the lobby.  
  
"Maybe we should go," suggested Ariane. Charlie nodded, and led her into the elevator. They got to his room, and he pulled his card key out of his pocket. He fumbled with it for a while when Ariane took it out of his hands. "Honestly, it's not that difficult. Here." She slipped it through the scanner and opened the door easily. She handed the card key back to a very sheepish Charlie.  
  
"So why did you decide to come, Ariane?" Ariane looked down at the ground.  
  
"I love you, Charlie. I guess that's the only real reason there is."  
  
"But you said that you almost didn't come." Ariane pursed her lips.  
  
"You're right. I did say that. Two years ago, I made a list." Ariane pulled out a crumpled sheet of paper. "I wrote it after a hard breakup, a hard relationship, really; it's a list of the things that I'd never do again, or ever, for a guy. And running after someone is one of the things on the list - the first thing, actually." She handed it to Charlie. "But then I decided that if I lived by this list, then I'd never - well - I'd never get you back. And I don't think I could live with that."  
  
"But wait, what's this about running after me? It seems to me that I was doing all of the running. Apparating, running," said Charlie.  
  
"Yes, you did. But I somehow got it into my head that meeting you here would constitute as running after you, and I thought that would be, um, not keeping my integrity, if you will," Ariane told him. Charlie looked at her curiously.  
  
"So what you're saying is -"  
  
"No, Charlie, I'm not saying that at all. I think your level of integrity outshines mine because of your steadfastness in this relationship. Honestly, I've never met a bloke this determined before, and I quite frankly didn't understand it until this morning."  
  
"This morning?"  
  
"After you left on Thursday, you left a note with the hotel written on it, remember?" He nodded. "Well, I threw it away. Right after you left; I didn't even want the temptation. Friday, I spent all day at work, you know, to try and forget about everything, and then this morning, well, I wenrasherging." Ariane mumbled that last few words together under her breath.  
  
"What? I didn't catch that last part." Charlie noticed that Ariane was turning slightly pink.  
  
"I went trash digging," she said, averting her eyes. "And it was trash day, too, so I had to go through the big bin in the front yard, but then it's the whole building's trash, and I didn't know which bag was mine." Charlie started snickering until she glared at him.  
  
"Er, sorry, darling. I know that isn't funny."  
  
"It was bloody disgusting, is what it was."  
  
"But you found it?" Ariane reached into her pocket and pulled out a tiny, crumpled piece of paper that looked as though it had seen better days, probably before the spaghetti sauce and other unrecognizable bits of trash had come in contact with it.  
  
"I found it. And then I got in my car and started here. Well, I took a shower first, obviously, but, um, yeah."  
  
"So by going trash digging, you realized that you had to come?"  
  
"Er, well, no. I thought about what you said. I knew it was true, I really did. I had even come to the same conclusion on my own, but then when I saw you, the words just didn't come out. After you said it, it really sunk in, though. I tried to ignore it, but the fact that you still said you loved me - I couldn't disregard that. I couldn't disregard the fact that I still love you, too. But I'd forgotten where you were staying here, so I had to go into the trash-"  
  
"Well, there's true love if I ever saw it," laughed Charlie.  
  
"Ha bloody ha."  
  
"Seriously, love, I would dig through all the trash bins in Britain if it meant having you here with me."  
  
"You don't have to; I already did. And besides that, if you did go through all the trash bins, I wouldn't come near you; the smell alone would kill me." Ariane's gray eyes caught Charlie's blue ones, suddenly serious. "I love you, Charlie. I'm sorry I put you through this."  
  
"Ariane, it's not your fault. And I understand why you reacted the way that you did. I also know that it seems really early in the relationship to have such deep feelings for you, but I can't help it. I love you. And you don't ever have to be sorry, because I will never stop loving you." Ariane smiled at him, touched. He stood up and took her into his muscular arms. She looked up at him.  
  
"Charlie - are you sure you're a bloke?"  
  
"What?!" he cried indignantly.  
  
"You're just always so damn bloody understanding and romantic."  
  
"Well, that's just Weasley charm."  
  
"So it's all a façade?"  
  
"Of course not. The hereditary charm is just a bonus. It's all one hundred percent Charlie Weasley, understanding and romantic as he may be."  
  
"Good. That's how I like him."  
  
"And I'm pretty sure I'm a bloke." Ariane felt a grin stretch across her face.  
  
"A wally, at the very least. Not to ruin the mood or anything, but how did you manage to get a room here? And where's Bill?"  
  
"Bill is in the room next door to us. And apparently he won some bet with the girl he's with, whose relatives run this hotel."  
  
"So we get to stay here, free of charge?"  
  
"Bottom line, yeah." At that moment, a knock came at the door. Charlie opened it, and saw Bill and Fleur standing there.  
  
"Ariane, glad to see you here," said Bill.  
  
"Hi, Bill."  
  
"Ariane, this is Fleur. Fleur, Ariane."  
  
"Hi, how do you do?" asked Ariane politely. The other girl looked at her curiously, as if trying to size her up. The two women were almost exact opposites in looks: Fleur had long, blond hair while Ariane had shorter black hair; Fleur's eyes were blue and readable whilst Ariane's were darker and contained mysteries. Fleur took Ariane's outstretched hand lightly.  
  
"I eem doing vell," said Fleur. "Bill and I, we were tinking zat we shood go and see some of ze sights of Paris. we wood like to start with ze Tour Eiffel. Wood 'oo two like to join us?" Charlie looked at Ariane, who shrugged her shoulders.  
  
"Sure, why not?" said Charlie. "It's not often that you get to go to Paris with your brother and the two most beautiful women in the world."  
  
The four headed out into the city of lights to be tourists and enjoy their time together. When they got lost, all were grateful to have Fleur with them, or else it could have gotten disastrous. When they finally found the Eiffel Tower it took all the Weasley charm from Bill and Charlie to get the other two to go up. Fleur was easier to convince, but Charlie discovered a new side of Ariane.  
  
"No, Charlie, I'm not going up. It's just - it's too dangerous."  
  
"No, it's not. I mean, sure, it's a weird Muggle invention - oops, sorry - but it's still perfectly safe. I bet tons of people go up every day."  
  
"Right, so those tons of people probably strain the cables so it's not nearly as sturdy now as it was when it was first built. I'm not going up," she argued.  
  
"Oh, come on, Ariane. I promise you'll be safe. If anything happens, I'll be there to catch you, okay?" It took several more minutes of urging before Ariane finally agreed, but only under certain conditions. They took the elevator to the highest level, Ariane's eyes squeezed shut and her hands were clamped to Charlie's tighter than a pickle jar. Charlie could feel the blood draining from his fingers.  
  
"Darling, it's okay. You can open your eyes," he whispered to her.  
  
"NO!" Ariane's voice was so filled with conviction and determination that Charlie decided to not push the matter any further. When they finally got back to ground level, he noticed Ariane's legs shaking violently. She slowly loosened her grip on Charlie's hands, and opened her eyes. "Thank God that's over," she breathed.  
  
"I didn't know you were so afraid of heights," Charlie commented.  
  
"I'm not afraid of heights. I just don't like them," she said simply.  
  
"I dunno, Ariane. I thought you were gonna faint or something for a while up there," stated Bill.  
  
"I was not!" she protested. "Was I?" She looked at the other three, all nodding their heads. "Well, I guess - I guess I do get a little queasy at certain heights."  
  
"It's a good thing you didn't grow up with Quidditch, then," said Bill.  
  
"Don't worry, I'll get her on a broomstick someday," said Charlie slyly.  
  
"No you won't, Charlie Weasley. Never. You might regret it if you try," threatened Ariane. The other three laughed, although they could see that she was probably very serious about her warning. "Now, honestly, can we go someplace that's more ground level?"  
  
"Eef anyone is 'ungry, I know a very neece petit café aroond heer," said Fleur.  
  
"Sounds good to me," said Bill.  
  
With Fleur leading the way, the four headed towards the café; Ariane simply thankful that she was back with her feet on the ground and Charlie simply thankful that she was at his side once more.  
  
* * *  
  
Ariane awoke first the next morning, and slipped quietly out of the huge bed. She looked fondly at the redhead still sleeping, his position seemingly uncomfortable. He was sleeping on his stomach; his left arm was twisted around his back and his right hip turning his legs on their sides. His mouth was open, and he was snoring slightly into the pillow, muffling the sound. Ariane stifled a giggle at his awkward arrangement of limbs. She snuck quietly into the bathroom, turning on the shower.  
  
She came back out of the bathroom, and Charlie was still sleeping. The creak of the door jarred him into alertness, and he awoke with a start.  
  
"Oh, my neck," he groaned.  
  
"No wonder," Ariane commented. "I've never seen anyone try to sleep as if they were a DNA double helix."  
  
"A what?" asked Charlie groggily.  
  
"Never mind." Ariane sat down on the bed.  
  
"What's that on your head?" questioned Charlie, his eyes starting to focus more.  
  
"A towel!"  
  
"Why?"  
  
"To dry out my hair, I guess. I mean, I'll blow dry and straighten it later, but it's just to get the excess water out of it now."  
  
"'Blow dry' and 'straighten'?" repeated Charlie, sitting up.  
  
"Yeah," said Ariane. She walked over to her tiny suitcase. She pulled out a straightening iron and a blow dryer, and handed them to Charlie.  
  
"Weird," he muttered, turning them over in his hands. He shook his head. "I have a better way." He leaned over to the side of the bed and grabbed his wand. Ariane grabbed at the towel wrapped around her head.  
  
"Wait, what are you going to do?"  
  
"Trust me; it's just a simple drying charm. I've been using it for years. Take the towel off." Ariane looked at him suspiciously, and then unwrapped the towel from her head. Charlie muttered something under his breath. Ariane felt all the water get sucked from her hair.  
  
"It's dry!" she exclaimed. Then she noticed the slight smirk on Charlie's face. "Oh my God," she groaned. "It poofed, didn't it?" Just from the laughter that Charlie was trying to hold in, Ariane feared the worst. She ran to the mirror, and found her black hair had frizzed in the worst way, almost resembling an afro. Charlie had gone to full blown laughter by this point. Ariane turned back to him. "Charlie, you fix this!"  
  
"Honestly, Ariane, I don't know any straightening spells. There's a potion out on the wizard market, but I don't know how to make it!"  
  
"Oh for crying out loud! I don't believe this."  
  
"It's not that bad, Ariane, honestly," said Charlie in between chuckles. Ariane threw a pillow on the ground at him. She grabbed her straightening iron and marched into the bathroom. "Wait, I still need to use the loo!" he called after her.  
  
"Tough!" she replied through the locked door. Charlie swung his legs off the bed and marched to the bathroom door.  
  
"Alohomora!" he said clearly, pointing his wand at the door. Ariane gasped in shock and a strange mix of horror and amusement as he strode through the now unlocked bathroom door.  
  
"Charlie, we NEED to have a talk about this magic stuff."  
  
"Why? It's convenient enough for me," he teased.  
  
"Yeah, I bet," she muttered as she began straightening the first layer of hair.  
  
"So tell me how this 'straightening iron' works," said Charlie, coming up behind her.  
  
"I'd be careful if I were you. This is really hot; it'll burn you if you come any closer."  
  
"I'm pretty used to burns, darling. I work with dragons," he reminded her.  
  
"Yeah, yeah, yeah." Ariane finished with the bottom-most layer, and started on the second.  
  
"How long do you spend doing your hair every day, anyways?"  
  
"Normally only fifteen or twenty minutes," she said. "But then again, normally I don't look as though I've stuck my finger in a socket."  
  
"What's a socket?" asked Charlie curiously. Ariane laughed.  
  
"Boy, we really do come from different worlds, don't we?" Charlie took the straightening iron out of her hands and wrapped his arms around her waist. He looked at them in the mirror. Ariane smiled at their reflection.  
  
"I don't think it really matters, do you?"  
  
"Of course not," she answered. "Now let me finish straightening my hair." Charlie chuckled and backed off. He turned to the shower on and jumped in. He started singing his old alma mater loudly and off-tune. Ariane smiled, shook her head, and finished her hair at about the same time Charlie finished showering. "So what's on the schedule for today?" she asked.  
  
"I'm not sure. I suppose we should ask Bill and Fleur, but I'm not sure if they're awake yet," said Charlie, waggling his eyebrows suggestively.  
  
"Oh, stop it. Bill's a grown man," Ariane said, batting him playfully on the arm.  
  
"Yeah, but he's also my big brother," Charlie claimed in self defense.  
  
"Whatever. We can call him."  
  
"How?" Ariane rolled her eyes. She walked over to the phone next to the bed and looked at the instructions briefly. She picked up the receiver and dialed a few numbers. There were several rings before someone picked up.  
  
"HELLO?" shouted a deep male voice. Ariane, startled, dropped the receiver. "HELLO? IS ANYONE THERE?" Ariane fumbled with it, and picked it back up.  
  
"Bill?"  
  
"YES? WHO IS THIS?" Charlie snickered from the other side of the room.  
  
"Bill, you can stop shouting," Ariane said into the phone.  
  
"WHAT?"  
  
"Bill, just talk like normal!"  
  
"OH, OKAY."  
  
"Bill! It's Ariane! Listen to me, stop shouting already!"  
  
"ARIANE? Oh, sorry. Sorry, I guess I'm not very good with telephones."  
  
"That's alright. So, Charlie and I were wondering if you and Fleur were going to be ready anytime soon to go out and explore some more."  
  
"Uhh, hold on." Ariane could hear him and Fleur talking in the background. "Uh, yeah, Ariane? We'll be ready in about half an hour."  
  
"Okay, we'll meet you guys in the lobby. Bye."  
  
"Bye." Ariane waited to hear the line on the other end hang up. "Bill? You can hang up now."  
  
"What? Hang up what?"  
  
"The phone. Put it back."  
  
"Oh, right." Ariane heard the phone click, and she put down her end as well. She looked over at Charlie.  
  
"We'll meet them in about half an hour, down in the lobby," she told him. She rubbed at her ear where Bill had yelled into it. "Your brother sure can be loud." Charlie laughed loudly.  
  
"Yeah, it seems to be a bit of a problem in our family. Ron did the same thing to Harry a few years back."  
  
"Why didn't you have a problem with it, then?" Charlie averted his gaze.  
  
"I kind of had to write Hermione and ask her how to use a phone, to be perfectly honest. I remembered Ron's incident, though, and thought that if I did that, you'd probably never go out with me."  
  
"You thought right," Ariane laughed. "Hermione - that's the one with the bushy hair, right? The one whose parents are dentists?"  
  
"Yeah, I had to write her a lot about Muggles, well, before I told you about us."  
  
"'Us' being witches and wizards?"  
  
"Yeah. And by the way, what's a dentist?"  
  
"A person who looks at people's mouths and makes sure they're healthy," answered Ariane, laughing when she saw Charlie's grimace at the thought of spending one's occupational life staring at teeth and saliva. Ariane suddenly turned serious. "So are we okay now, Charlie?"  
  
"Of course we are," he answered. "I think the real question is, are you okay?"  
  
"Yes. I think so. I mean, all this news about my father is going to take some getting used to, but - well, I know it's not your fault, and it's not anybody else's. Except for - what was his name again?"  
  
"You-Know-Who," supplied Charlie.  
  
"Voldemort," said Ariane clearly as Charlie flinched. "But he can't hurt us unless we let him, and I refuse to let him come between us again."  
  
"Good," said Charlie. "I won't either." They held each other for several moments, and then Ariane started bustling around, throwing things in her purse to get ready for the day, which was bound to be great. After all, she was a woman in love in the city of l'amour.  
  
*Okay, I know that chapter didn't really go anywhere, but at least they're back together, right?? I had to get my little Ron-on-the-phone tribute in there, so I hope that I did JKR justice (if not, I apologize profusely!) Anyways, until next time, thanks again for reading and reviewing. 


	11. All's Fair in Love and War

A/N: Wow, what a week! Sorry it's taken so long again. Well, here's the final chapter (unless I decide to do sequels - I'll let the reviews determine that!) So, here you are, faithful readers/reviewers: the final installment of "To Love a Muggle." Enjoy.  
  
Disclaimer: I never have nor will I ever own these characters. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *  
  
Over the course of two months, Charlie and Ariane fell even more deeply in love. Their first and only fight to date had lasted barely a week, but almost broke them apart. The weekend in Paris had been a great healing tool, a bridge from puppy love to true love.  
  
Ariane went to visit the Burrow many more times, and was even able to accompany Charlie to Hogwarts once, to see the last Quidditch game of the year. She watched from the ground level, unwilling to go up to the stands. Charlie grudgingly decided to stay on the ground as well, preferring (to the shock of his family) to stay with Ariane. To everyone's delight (except the Slytherins), Gryffindor won both the Quidditch and House Cups. Ariane got the fright of her life when Nearly Headless Nick came through the Gryffindor table at supper.  
  
To Charlie's surprise and amazement, Professor McGonagall approached him after dessert, informing him that Headmaster Albus Dumbledore wanted to see Charlie and Ariane in his office within the hour.  
  
"Who is Albus Dumbledore?" asked Ariane. The half of the Gryffindor table that heard her stopped eating and stared at her, baffled; some straining to get a look at the person who didn't know who Albus Dumbledore was. Charlie ignored their looks as best he could.  
  
"He's generally considered to be the greatest wizard of the century," answered Charlie, pointing out the man in the center of the head table with long white hair and a long white beard. "He's the headmaster here."  
  
"Why does he want to see us?" she wondered out loud.  
  
"I've no idea."  
  
* * *  
  
Charlie and Ariane headed to the headmaster's office after dinner, Charlie leading the way. It had been years since he had been a student here, but his feet seemed to still have the hallways memorized. It was only as an adult that he actually saw the inside of the headmaster's office, though. This would only be the third time in the large circular room. They headed up the stairs after Charlie said the password ("Id Est") and entered the large room. Ariane looked around, amazed, at the pictures of past headmasters on the wall. She noticed Fawkes the Phoenix right away, and the two immediately formed a friendship of sorts. Professor Dumbledore entered silently only moments later.  
  
"Ah, the last Seeker since our current one to give Gryffindor a Quidditch championship," the ancient wizard said by way of greeting. Both Ariane and Charlie started slightly, not having heard him come into the room. Unexpectedly, Professor Dumbledore took Charlie into a hug, which he returned after his moment of shock. Charlie felt him drop something into his pocket, but decided against investigating until out of the office. "Now, if I understand correctly, you two have been courting for four months, now, am I correct?" asked the professor, a twinkle in his blue eyes.  
  
Ariane blushed and averted her eyes. Charlie simply nodded, unaware even that the professor knew about their relationship.  
  
"I am going to ask you two to join me in an experience, if you will. As you both have discovered, your past is tied rather unusually. I realize that discovery was hard on the both of you, and strained your relationship, and you haven't really broached the subject since, but I must ask you to once again. With the recent fall of the Dark Lord, there are many questions that have come up. You," Dumbledore looked at Charlie, "have already read the first book published on the subject, which I'm afraid is highly inaccurate, as we do not have all of the information to Voldemort's attacks."  
  
"But, sir, I'm not sure I understand," said Charlie, furrowing his brow. "How do you know all of this? I mean -"  
  
"You'll find, Mr. Weasley, that there is not much that can be hidden from me. I do keep my distance from certain, er, subjects, as sometimes it is none of my business. But I fear that your relationship with this lovely young woman has piqued my interest due to her involvement in Voldemort's rise to power."  
  
"So you want her to what?" asked Charlie.  
  
"Simply to remember. Although that's not always simple - or easy, I should say."  
  
"For what purpose?" inquired Ariane quietly, speaking for the first time.  
  
"To get the real story, my dear. It is imperative to get a full story from any who are able to remember, so as to truly punish those involved. Memories are the definitive witness."  
  
"But I don't remember my father's death," she whispered. Professor Dumbledore looked at her kindly.  
  
"And for good reason," he told her. "It is a memory rightly repressed. But I must drag it up again, with your permission, of course. It is a difficult charm, but one that I can perform without too much trouble. There are many Death Eaters still out there, and any memories that we can acquire will be of help. But I will not perform this charm without your permission."  
  
"Ariane, you don't have to do this," Charlie told her. Ariane bit her lip. Dumbledore looked at her over his half-moon spectacles.  
  
"He's right, Ms. Hara. You do not have to do this." A tear fell down her cheek as debating thoughts flew through her head. She finally looked up and took a deep breath.  
  
"I want to see those responsible put in their place. I'll do whatever I can to help," she said finally. Dumbledore smiled.  
  
"Thank you." He looked at Charlie. "She has the heart of a Gryffindor," Dumbledore told him. Charlie nodded proudly, smiling sadly at Ariane. Dumbledore stood, and gestured to Ariane to stand as well. He walked her to the center of the room and put his wand to her forehead. He mumbled something that Charlie couldn't make out, when suddenly the room whirled into a living room.  
  
Charlie walked over to Dumbledore and Ariane. Ariane was standing still, her arms at her sides, and her eyes closed with a serene and peaceful look on her face. Dumbledore still had his wand to her temple, and the two wizards watched the scene unfold around them.  
  
Ariane's mother was playing with a three-year-old Ariane on the floor, and her father was watching, laughing as Ariane struggled to get to her feet. It was the quintessential happy family, a portrait of familial perfection. There was a knock at the door, and Charlie watched as Ariane's father went to the door. Instead of Voldemort, as Charlie had expected, Lucius Malfoy walked in. Dumbledore's reaction was unreadable.  
  
"Filthy Muggle residence," Malfoy sniffed.  
  
"What do you want?" demanded Mr. Hara, a thick accent clouding his speech. "I must ask you to leave."  
  
"Unfortunately I can't do that," Malfoy sighed. "I'm not much happier to be here, either." He casually pulled out his wand and said, "Imperio!" Ariane and her mother looked strangely at the blond man as he somehow controlled Mr. Hara, making him walk to the center of the room and calmly sit himself down on a chair. "Now you will remain as such until you hear another knock. You will get up and open the door, sit yourself back down, and wait for what comes next." Malfoy grinned evilly, turned on his heel and strode out the door. Not having to wait for long, there was another knock at the door only a couple of minutes later. There was a pit growing in Charlie's stomach, and he wasn't sure if he wanted to see what was coming next. He stole a glance at Professor Dumbledore, but he seemed passive to the surrounding events. If he was affected at all, he didn't show it outwardly.  
  
Ariane's father got out of his chair, and opened the door. It was a truly hideous man that walked into the room. His hair seemed greasy, slimy almost, and his face resembled more of a reptile than a man. Charlie knew that Voldemort had appeared snakelike in his return, but he hadn't realized that these features were apparent even before his first downfall. Voldemort looked around the room, smiling cruelly at Ariane and her mother. Ariane's father was back in his chair now, unaware of the danger. Ariane and her mother cowered in the corner of the room, afraid to run, and even more afraid to talk back to this man who seemed to radiate electric power. Ariane's mother covered Ariane with her arms, trying to shield her from anything that might happen.  
  
Voldemort looked back to the submissive man in the chair. He pulled out his wand and held it lightly in his pale, sickly greenish hand. He pointed it at Mr. Hara, and shouted with sudden ferocity, "Crucio!" Mr. Hara screamed out in pain, his body twitching and bending with pain. Mrs. Hara cried out for her husband, until Voldemort sent her a stare that quieted her, and she watched her husband spasm with pain. She frantically tried to quiet Ariane, who was crying, tears flowing freely from her young eyes. After an undeterminable amount of time, Voldemort let go of the Cruciatus Curse. He paced slowly around the room as Mr. Hara was hunched on all fours, trying to catch his breath. He grasped at his heart, his breathing ragged.  
  
Voldemort looked at him as if he were a bug that needed to be squashed. Ariane's father was gasping for air now, despite no longer being under the influence of a spell.  
  
"You're going to make this too easy for me," muttered Voldemort, as he pointed his wand at the other man once again. "Avada Kedavra!" There was a bright flash of green, and Charlie had to turn his face away, the light was so overwhelming. When he looked again, Mr. Hara's body was still, lifeless. Voldemort had his face inches from Mrs. Hara's. "I am not going to kill you today, although you deserve to die," he whispered to her silkily. "Your crime is being a Muggle, but I am going to let you suffer with the knowledge of your husband's death until your daughter comes of age. Then I will return and let you watch her death when I can truly enjoy her screams. And then it will be your turn." With that, Voldemort gave one last glance to the body of Ariane's father and apparated out of the house.  
  
Numb, Charlie watched as other wizards came pouring into the 'crime scene' and his father posed as a doctor. He watched as lies were fed to Mrs. Hara and Ariane after a memory modification charm was performed. Then he saw the photos sent back to Mrs. Hara with a complex hex built into them, eating away at the memory charms over the years. Suddenly, Dumbledore muttered something, and took his wand from Ariane's temple. Charlie hadn't noticed any movement from her during the entire process, but now noticed that she had gone from the peaceful look to despairing and hopeless sobs wracking her body. He went to her and held her, unsure of what to say to calm her.  
  
Dumbledore moved back to his desk, and Charlie guided Ariane to the chair she had been sitting in previously. Her sobs had died down, but there were still tears falling down her face. Charlie's heart went out to her, but he needed some questions answered as well.  
  
"Sir?" he asked carefully. Dumbledore regarded him quizzically. "Sir, I'm afraid I don't understand entirely. Why would they knock? And I thought Lucius Malfoy was cleared, and those hexes in the photos -"  
  
"I am sure that you have heard of the brilliance of Tom Marvolo Riddle?" the wizened sorcerer asked quietly. Charlie nodded. "He undoubtedly was able to figure out something as complicated as that, something that everyday wizards would not even think of trying to accomplish. As you probably have noticed, the memory modifications that the hex did drive away were picky - it didn't rid all of the memory changes." Charlie nodded slightly. "As far as Lucius Malfoy goes, we will have to see what the future holds for him with this new evidence. I am unsure as to why they knocked. I suppose it could be anyone's guess." Dumbledore turned to Ariane. "My dear, I want to thank you again for your bravery. I am sure that much rest is needed now for both you and Mr. Weasley here. I give you both my blessings in your future together." The old wizard gave them a smile that shone forth with gratitude, respect, and love. Charlie put his arm around Ariane's shoulders and led her out the door. They walked silently to the carriages to Hogsmeade and apparated to the Burrow, where they settled down for a long, peaceful, and (thankfully) dreamless sleep.  
  
* * *  
  
Almost two months later, all of the Weasleys, plus Harry, Hermione, Fleur and Ariane were gathered around a large picnic table outside of the Burrow.  
  
"Happy birthday to you!" twelve of them finished as Harry blew out sixteen candles on a five layer cake that was no doubt put together by the always- clever wand of Mrs. Weasley. Harry fought with four of the candles that didn't seem to want to blow out. They would go out and then relight themselves. He sent a murderous glance to the twins, who for once, feigned innocence.  
  
"Honest, Mum, it wasn't us!" protested Fred as Mrs. Weasley looked about ready to give them another (and probably well deserved) talking-to.  
  
"Swear, cross our hearts, Mum!" cried George. None of the Weasleys believed him until Ariane started to giggle while watching Harry still battle with the candles. He was starting to turn blue from his efforts.  
  
"Darling, did you have anything to do with this?" asked Charlie.  
  
"Of course not!" she said, until she couldn't hold it in anymore. Harry gave her a withering glance, finally cottoning on.  
  
"These aren't those relighting candles, are they?" he asked wearily. She nodded sheepishly, as Hermione laughed.  
  
"My parents used to give me those when I was younger," chuckled Hermione. Mr. Weasley pushed his way to the front.  
  
"These are Muggle candles?" he asked, impressed. "How utterly amazing." He bent down to examine them when Ron cried out.  
  
"Whoa! Harry, the cake's on fire!" Indeed, Harry had been working at the candles so long that they had burnt down to the bottom and the icing that Mrs. Weasley had used was apparently flammable. The whole of the Weasley clan jumped back as the first tier of the cake burst into flames. They watched as the entire cake went up into smoke until Hermione pulled out her wand and put the flames out. The remaining cinders fell into a pile of ashes on the picnic table. Harry stared at it for a while, blinking. None of the Weasleys knew what to say.  
  
"Erm, happy birthday, Harry," said Ron finally, shoving a gift in his best friend's hands. Harry's face broke into a grin. As if on cue, all of the redheads began laughing and smiling again, knowing that the "cake incident" would be a permanent part of Weasley family history; Ariane was glad to know that, as the initiator, she was (by default at least) also a permanent part of their history. Harry happily opened all of his presents, receiving a Chudley Cannons poster from Ron (who was hell bent on turning Harry into a fellow die-hard Cannons fan) and a book on advanced Seeker maneuvers from Hermione. From Ginny, he received a stationary set, to which both he and the younger girl turned bright red. Although they tried to hide it, it was pretty apparent to everyone else that what was going on between the two probably went beyond simple correspondence. Among other gifts he collected were broom servicing kits (similar to that given to him by Hermione a few years back), an assortment of candy from Honeyduke's, and other tidbits, most having to do with Quidditch in some form or another.  
  
The twins had been working on their joke shop for the past few weeks since their graduation, using the money that Harry had won in the Triwizard Tournament. Mrs. Weasley was none too happy when she found out about the money, but Harry eventually reassured her that it was what he wanted and it was okay. Unfortunately, the twins had developed even more common day items that could be possible hazardous, wrecking much more havoc than usual.  
  
They went to sleep after a quick Quidditch game, Fleur stepping in for the Keeper, as Mr. Weasley flat out refused to play this time around. Charlie was slightly disappointed that they didn't have their fireplace reunion, as he still needed to repay Bill for his stories at Easter. Charlie still hadn't lived some of those down from Ariane. Now that Fleur was here, it was a perfect chance. Perhaps tomorrow night, though.  
  
* * *  
  
Charlie tiptoed quietly into the girl's room early the next morning. Mrs. Weasley was still strict about girls and boys in their own certain rooms, preferably on separate levels of the house, despite the fact that over half of her children were grown adults (by legal age, at any rate). Hermione and Ginny were on slim mattresses on the floor, in sleeping bags, and Ariane and Fleur each had their own single beds. Charlie carefully stepped over his sister, and watched Ariane sleep for a few seconds.  
  
"Shhh," he whispered in her ear as he reached to pick her up in a fireman's carry. He didn't want her to wake anyone else up if she woke abruptly.  
  
"What?" she asked groggily, her head falling to rest on his shoulder. He carried her outside, careful not to wake the house. He set her down on the grass, where she stood sleepily rubbing her eyes until he returned from wherever he went. He came back with a broomstick, Harry's Firebolt, to be exact. Charlie had gotten permission to use it the night before; Harry hadn't understood why, but he figured that Charlie was a good enough Seeker and Quidditch player that he wouldn't ruin the expensive broom.  
  
Charlie mounted the broom and told Ariane to hang on. She was still bleary eyed, and unaware of what he was about to do, so she lightly put her arms around his waist. Charlie kicked off, waking Ariane up completely. She immediately tightened her grip on Charlie's waist, almost cutting off his air supply. They zoomed up one hundred feet.  
  
"Charles Weasley, YOU PUT ME DOWN THIS INSTANT!" she screamed.  
  
"Shh! You're going to wake every up!"  
  
"I DON'T CARE!"  
  
"Look, Ariane, this is the only place where we can be alone in this place."  
  
"Charlie, I don't know what you're insinuating, but -" she said in a dangerously low voice.  
  
"Ariane, do you trust me?"  
  
"What? Charlie, please, just put me down. Please," she begged.  
  
"Do you trust me?"  
  
"I never beg, Charlie, but please, PLEASE put me down," she pleaded.  
  
"Just answer the question! Do you trust me?"  
  
"Yes, damn it, I trust you! Now put me down!"  
  
"One more question."  
  
"NO!"  
  
"Trust me," he reassured.  
  
"Stop saying that!" Charlie lightly touched the broom, and they went up even farther, putting about another fifty feet between the two and the ground. He steadied it and, in one swift maneuver, flipped around to face Ariane. "What are you doing?" she demanded, the wind whipping through her hair.  
  
"Ariane, I love you."  
  
"Charlie, this really isn't the time or the place. Put me down. NOW."  
  
"Not yet." Ariane's gray eyes bored into his.  
  
"Please, Charlie."  
  
"In a second. I need to ask you something first."  
  
"Then do it already!" Ariane's face was a strange mixture of ferocity, curiosity, and fear. Charlie reached out and ran his fingers through her hair. "You keep both hands on that broom!" she ordered. Charlie laughed, putting his hand back on the broom.  
  
"Yes, your highness," he said.  
  
"I'm glad you find this so amusing," she grumbled, focusing on not looking down. Charlie looked into her eyes.  
  
"Ariane, will you marry me?"  
  
"What?"  
  
"Will you marry me?" he repeated.  
  
"I'm not answering until you put me down," she replied.  
  
"I'm not going to put you down until you answer me." Ariane jutted her jaw out determinedly. "Darling, if you want to be put down, you're going to answer," Charlie told her. He made the broom move a little, and she cried out, startled, but still refused to answer. "Okay, you asked for it," he said, and he took hold of her waist, and steering the broom backwards, he took it into a loop-the-loop, a move that he had mastered his first year as Seeker while he was still at Hogwarts. Ariane screamed at the top of her lungs.  
  
"OKAY, OKAY, YES, DAMMIT, YES, I'LL MARRY YOU!! NOW PUT ME DOWN, YOU BLEEDIN' MANIAC!" she screeched.  
  
"That's what I thought," he said, and he took the broom down to the ground lightly. Ariane scrambled off the broom as quickly as possible.  
  
"What in bleeding hell was the point of that?" she demanded.  
  
"I'm sorry, but honestly, it was the only place where we could be alone. Not only that, but I wanted it to be memorable. Besides, you know what they say: All's fair in love and war." Ariane regarded the redheaded man in front of her doubtfully. Charlie smiled at her and got down on one knee, pulling something out of his pocket. "Let me do this properly now. Ariane Kimi Hara, I love you. You led me out of my labyrinth, as your namesake Ariadne did for Theseus. You are the only woman in my life; you are without equal, as your middle name suggests. I give you my heart, my life, my love. Will you marry me?"  
  
Ariane smiled, happy tears streaming down her face, both from the proposal as well as finally being back on the ground. "Yes," she told him. "I will marry you, Charlie Weasley." Charlie stood up, grinning. He pulled the ring out of its case, and put it on her left ring finger. She looked at it, and realized that this was no ordinary ring. The farther she looked into it, the more she saw. There were stars, galaxies floating around inside of it.  
  
"I wanted to give you the universe," whispered Charlie. "Professor Dumbledore gave this to me that day in his office. I think he somehow knew that it was made for you."  
  
"It's beautiful," she told him. "Thank you." Charlie folded her into his arms and kissed her until the whole of his family came pouring out of the house, whooping and catcalling coming from his brothers. Charlie took Ariane's hand in his, and bent down to grab Harry's broom. He handed it back to the younger wizard.  
  
"Thanks," he said.  
  
"Welcome," replied Harry.  
  
"So how'd it go?" inquired Bill.  
  
"How'd what go?" asked Charlie innocently.  
  
"Oh come on, we all heard Ariane screaming; we figured you had to be proposing."  
  
"What are you implying?"  
  
"Well, if I was a woman and you asked me to marry you, I'd scream too," said Bill, laughing. Charlie punched his older brother in the arm while Ariane laughed at the two. Mrs. Weasley came out to congratulate the young couple, and soon the yard was buzzing with normal Weasley clan activity. After breakfast, Ariane and Charlie slipped into the house quietly, hoping to have a few free minutes to 'talk' as Ariane put it. Charlie grabbed a couple of glasses of pumpkin juice while passing through the kitchen.  
  
They sat in the living room, on one of the well-worn couches near the fireplace.  
  
"Is something wrong?" asked Charlie.  
  
"Not wrong, exactly. I'm just worried about my mother," started Ariane.  
  
"Don't worry about it," said Charlie.  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
"Professor Dumbledore and I spoke to your mother," he began, as Ariane's face twisted into one of confusion. "It was the professor's idea; I hadn't even thought about it. But, um, basically, he told her about what really happened, and he was somehow able to convince her. I still don't completely understand how, though," he said, looking slightly confused himself.  
  
"So she's okay with - well, with people like you?" asked Ariane.  
  
"Well, I think she's more accepting at any rate. Then I asked her if she would be okay if I asked you to marry me."  
  
"And she said yes?" Charlie nodded; Ariane was baffled. "HOW? The woman hates any guy I go with, even if he's not a wizard!" Charlie shrugged.  
  
"I can be very persuasive," he said.  
  
"You didn't take her up on a broom, did you?" she asked, narrowing her eyes suspiciously.  
  
He laughed and shook his head. "Nope."  
  
Ariane looked at him, an eye brow raised. "That 'Weasley charm' thing again?"  
  
"Something like that."  
  
"Wow." Ariane shook her head. "I just can't believe this." Not knowing what to say, the two sat in silence for several moments until the twins came bursting into the room.  
  
"Charlie, you gotta see this!" yelped Fred.  
  
"What?"  
  
"It actually worked," said George excitedly.  
  
"What worked?" asked Charlie, confused.  
  
"You just gotta go see it," Fred told him. Charlie sent a look to Ariane.  
  
"I think I'm worried," he confessed. They got up, and followed the twins out to the front yard again. "Where is everyone?" Fred and George pointed simultaneously to the right. Ariane and Charlie's eyes followed, and they saw nine peacocks running around, squawking angrily. "What did you DO?" Charlie demanded his younger brothers.  
  
"Peacock potion," answered George.  
  
"We put it in the pumpkin juice," quipped Fred.  
  
"Took us all summer to develop it."  
  
"It doesn't wear off for a whole hour!"  
  
"Thank God we didn't drink any pumpkin juice," said Charlie. Ariane's eyes were wide.  
  
"Yes, we did, Charlie," she reminded him. "Remember -"  
  
"But we're not peacocks," he said, confused.  
  
"Actually, it takes about fifteen minutes for it to register," interjected George. Charlie narrowed his eyes at his younger brothers.  
  
"You two better run," he said dangerously. He tore off after his twin brothers when, with a loud POP, he turned full-grown peacock. He squawked angrily, ruffling his feathers with a huff. Ariane laughed until the same happened to her only seconds later. After an hour, there were ten very angry wizards and witches, and one slightly-less-than-humored Muggle. The twins were nowhere to be found, which was probably safest for their physical health.  
  
"Are you sure you want to get into this?" asked Charlie.  
  
"Positive," Ariane told him, slipping her arm around his waist. They walked to join Charlie's family in lunch. No, OUR family, Ariane reminded herself with a smile. She had always wanted a large family; it was one of the first things she ever told Charlie. Now she had it, and nothing could take that away. Nothing could ruin this day.  
  
* * *  
  
**Well, that's it for this story. If I get reviews asking for sequels (the wedding, children, etc; trust me, I've got ideas for them!) or whatever, I'll write them; if not, that's that. Thank you so so so much for reading and reviewing. Please know that your comments helped this story develop and kept the chapters coming. Also, I'm working on fixing any inaccuracies that were in previous chapters, so if anyone notices some (other than the obvious), please PLEASE let me know! Does anyone know if a broom can actually hold two people??? Anyways, that's enough from me. Thanks again! 


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